What in the world?
by JustADreamer24
Summary: Part of the Annabeth World! Before the events of "Complicated Situations" & "Unexpected Events", Annabeth had to meet the team for the first time and be reunited with Steve after thinking she was never gonna see him again but, because it coudn't be any other way, things didn't fall into place as smoothly as they would've liked. This is how everything began! Better explained inside
1. Chapter 1

**Hello there my dear readers! I would like to welcome you to my new story "What in the world?"**

 **For those of you reading a story of mine for the first time, there is an OC named Annabeth and she's Steve's little sister. She used to be a spy and is now working with Five 0. If you check out the previous stories "Unexpected Events" and "Complicated Situations", you can find a better explanation inside. I suppose you don't need to read those stories to understand this one because there is no pre-established order between the stories.**

 **For the readers who are returning, in this story we find out how Annabeth and Steve found each other again after he rescued her from Sho Wun and how she became an active member of the team. This story takes place sometime in the middle of the first season of the show, so this happens BEFORE the other stories!**

 **Stephanie** **: if you're reading this, I would like to respond to the last review you left me on the story "Complicated Situations". I'm more than glad you liked the story and they way I write. English is not my first language but I make an effort to write the best way I can. I'm suuuch a huge fan of Harry Potter and it was actually one of the first books I ever read. It gave me the love and passion for reading and it was actually the way I learned to use English the way I do. The VERY FIRST book I read in English was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. After that, I just kept practicing until I could write and talk in English the way I do today. I hope you find this new story as interesting as the last one.**

 **Aquababy58** **: WELCOME friend to this new story! I hope this meets expectations and as always, I'll be looking forward to hear your comments about it!**

 **Well, without further a due…. ENJOY!**

Danny was pissed.

Not only had his partner given him the usual heart attack of the week while chasing a suspect down the streets earlier that morning; but later Rachel had called him to say that he wouldn't be able to see Grace that weekend because of some stupid event that they had to attend to with Stan.

To top it all off, the case they were currently working on involved the kidnapping of young girls to be sold as slaves all around the world and that had just stricken a nerve deep within him.

Two days ago, on Monday morning, the body of a young lady of about seventeen years old had been discovered badly beaten by the side of an almost abandoned road. After a throughout autopsy and intense hours of investigation, they came across an organization that targeted girls around that age to be used, not in prostitution, but simply on human slavery. They were sold to whoever was mad enough to pay for it and the girls usually ended up as maids of insanely rich people, working on the basement of some industrial company, being used as mules to get drugs in and out of the islands or being subjected to try new formulas and products.

Either way, it was slavery and perfectly young, healthy and, above all, innocent girls all around the island were being snatched from their lives to satisfy the perverted needs of the criminal world.

Governor Jameson had given them the order to find the center of this criminal organization and bring it down at all cost; not that they actually needed the additional incentive that had fallen upon them in the form of a direct order, because they were pretty motivated on their own.

So yeah, right now, on their way to a night club to pick up a new suspect whose name had been delivered by the man McGarrett had almost attacked this morning, Danny was totally pissed. Apparently this night club was one of the many ways that this criminal organization had to choose the girls who would become their slaves and that's why they were parking the Camaro and getting ready to inspect the place. The goal was to identify their suspect and bring him in quietly because they didn't want the mayor players of the organization to notice that the police or Five 0 were after them, in case they decided to go into hiding underground for a time while things settled down again.

They couldn't waste the only leads they had been able to get since that girl's body had been found.

Steve and Danny got out of the car and headed for the entrance.

\- Do me a favor, please? – asked Danny once they were cleared to enter the door of the club – we need to bring him in quietly, all right? That means no chasing around suspects, no shouting at him, no shooting AND no grenades. Will that be okay with you? – the fact is, they had been working together for about six months since the task force was created and although they had learned to get along well enough, even after that first confrontation when they had met and were solving Steve's father's murder, Danny still had trouble accepting the way his partner handled things and police procedure; or lack of it. Steve just sent him a half amused smile.

\- Don't worry Danno – he answered, dragging out the nickname just to annoy him – I know how to do this.

\- Yeah, yeah you know how to blow stuff up that is – he retorted under his breath but loud enough for Steve to hear.

They just kept walking into the club.

After the entrance hall, the place was divided into two different rooms: the one to the right was packed with people (which suspiciously looked a little under 21… or 18 for that matter) dancing around to the tedious techno music that blared so loud out of the speakers that the beat of the music could be felt deep inside the stomach; and the room to their left was filled with couches and chairs where there was also young people drinking and laughing and seemingly having a good time. How these people managed to hear each other over the loud music was beyond him. In this part of the place, there were also people from a slightly older age and most of them were at the bar, which was all the way to the back of the room.

They navigated their way through all the people inside and reached the bar. They had their weapons concealed behind their backs and their badges were gone. For all intents and purposes, they were just two friends going out for a drink.

Upon reaching the bar, Steve ordered two beers and handed one to Danny, who was already looking around the place trying to pinpoint their suspect.

The man they were looking for was tall, dark haired, well built and liked to pretend he was a high society member. Maybe that way girls showed more interest in him.

\- Do you see him? – asked Steve.

\- What? – yelled Danny back because over the roar of the music he just couldn't hear anything else than the uncomfortable beat of the sound. Steve had to roll his eyes and get closer to speak right on Danny's ear.

\- I asked if you have seen him? – he yelled, making Danny flinch and step away from him.

\- Geez! No need to yell that loud! And don't you think if I had seen him I would have said something? – he spat. Steve liked riling up his partner because it was just fun to annoy him, but he also knew when to let him be. He understood why this case upset him the most but he probably was more affected by the canceled weekend with Grace.

\- I don't see him here. Maybe he's dancing? – he asked instead.

\- Maybe – answered Danny without taking his eyes from the crown.

\- I'll go check – seeing McGarrett start his way towards the next room, he heaved a sigh and started following him. The closer they got to the source of the music, the angrier he felt.

They reached the edge of the room and stood there for a couple of minutes surveying the dancers trying to identify the guy. But there was too much people packed together dancing and even though they had seen a photo of their suspect (because the guy had a pretty long list of criminal records) it was like finding a needle in a haystack.

\- You know, we just look ridiculous standing here watching all these people without actually dancing – Danny commented. Well, more like yelled to his partner. When he got no answer, he was ready to repeat his statement, maybe adding a little bit more of complaint into it, when he saw his partner's face. It was something between aneurysm face and shocked-out-of-my-mind face. Yes, he liked to name the faces of his partner – what? Did you see him? – but what he got for an answer was another question.

\- What in the world…? – Steve asked no one in particular and started walking towards a couple dancing almost in the middle of the floor.

Danny followed him and was surprised himself to actually find the man they had been looking for. He was dancing with a young and pretty girl and even though techno music wasn't exactly a romantic dance, the couple was dancing pretty close together.

To add to Danny's surprise, Steve didn't even seem to register their suspect, instead taking the girl by the arm and spinning her so he could face her.

\- Hey! – she started to protest, but suddenly got quiet and, unless the lights of the place were playing tricks on his eyes, the girl's face lost all color.

\- What are you doing dude? – asked the suspect, bringing Steve's attention to him maybe for the first time. He studied him for a few seconds and then turned to Danny.

\- Book'em Danno – he said without the usual spark of joy the little "term of endearment" brought him. Almost instantly he turned his attention back to the girl – come on – he said, and started leading her away from the crowd.

Danny was left with no other choice than to tell the guy who he was and getting him under arrest. A few people realized what was happening and made room for him to act. He reached for the pair of handcuffs on the back pocket of his pants and clasped them in place. So much for bringing him in quietly.

He guided the suspect towards the exit where a minute before Steve had been leading the girl to. Once outside, he could see them near one side of the Camaro about to start a heated argument. He came closer and opened the back door on the other side where he pushed the guy inside and locked the door afterwards. Then, he turned to his partner and the girl and asked Steve:

\- What the hell is the matter with you?!

 **Well, there you have it! You can guess who the girl is right?**

 **Let's see how things unfold from now on. If you've read the other stories then you know how Annabeth's and Steve's relationship is like, but things weren't always as good between them. You'll see on this story!**

 **I can't tell you when I'll be updating or how long this story will be. I'll be writing according to how my muse gets motivated and you know just how REVIEWS motivate me!**

 **So remember…. Leave a review! I would like to know what you think will happen on this story, or what you would LIKE to see in this story!**

 **Anyway… Until next chapter!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello my readers! I'm happy to post the second chapter today! I enjoyed a lot writing it!**

 **I would like to thank all the people that favorite this story or are now following it.**

 **Texas50Fan** **: it's good to have on board of this story too. I hope to read a comment from you too!**

 **Stephanie** **: thanks for your review! I'm so happy that you're reading this new story of mine!**

 **Aquababy58** **: as always, thank you for your wonderful reviews! They ALWAYS make my day!**

 **Jonesdeere88** **: welcome to this story and I'm so glad that you find it interesting enough to follow it. I really hope to read a review from you soon! You let me know what you think of it! I also invite you to read "Unexpected Events" and "Complicated Situations" if you like!**

 **Well… here's chapter two!**

Steve was almost beyond words.

It had been two years since his SEAL team had gotten the mission of rescuing two of the most important American assets, succeeding only with half of the mission. A half that was now standing in front of him just outside of the night club and staring at him like she wanted nothing more than to get as far away from him as possible… or kill him; he never quite managed to read her right in the short amount of time they spend together while she recovered from her injuries on the base he was stationed at the moment.

He knew he would never forget about her but he had to admit that with everything that had happened in his life during the past year, he hadn't given her much thought; although he actually never imagined they would meet again and never in his wildest dreams could he have imagined it would have been here, in Hawaii, right in the middle of an investigation.

\- What are you doing here? – he asked her, completely ignoring Danny's previous question. The girl looked at him and raised her eyebrows.

\- What am _I_ doing here? I think it's pretty obvious. I'm partying. What the hell do you think you're doing storming in like that and dragging me out? – her tone was deadly and cold as ice.

\- You're partying? – Steve asked back incredulous – do you have any idea who you were partying with? – he signaled the man that now sat inside the car.

\- And just what the hell is it to you? I party with whoever the hell I want – she spat back. She was clearly angry because he didn't remember her cursing this much when they first met. Right then, Danny chose his moment to walk around the car and intervene again.

\- Okay. You obviously know each other – he started – so, would you mind sharing the memories? Or are you going to stand here all night yelling at the other.

\- I'm not yelling – both Steve and the girl answered at the same time, leaving Danny momentarily perplexed.

\- Clearly – he stated – anyway, are you going to tell me who this is? – he asked his partner – Steve turned to look at the girl again searching for the correct words to tell Danny who she was. Suddenly the thought " _She's my sister_ " came to his mind but he had to bite his lower lip to keep from spilling that little piece of information. No one knew that but himself… not even her. He was about to introduce her when she beat him to it.

\- Name's Annabeth and that's all you need to know – she said, again with the cold tone of voice. Danny raised his eyebrows at her and couldn't help but being taken aback by the attitude this girl was showing. It wasn't every day that a girl her age managed to stare down Lt. Commander Steve McGarrett and hold his gaze until he had to look away. And Danny was beyond confused now because Steve _had_ looked away.

\- Okay, _just_ Annabeth… We're in the middle of an investigation and this guy here is a suspect. I'm sorry if my Neanderthal partner manhandled you – Danny was saying and actually thought he saw the ghost of a smile on the girl's lips at that comment – but he probably did save you from a horrible future at the hands of his employees – he finished, signaling to the guy in the car again. The small smile of amusement that had indeed appeared on her face soon vanished to be replaced with a snort and a laugh that held no humor at all.

\- Save me? Don't flatter yourself. I didn't need anyone's saving. I knew what I was doing – she answered.

\- Really? – intervened Steve, who had become suspiciously quiet for a few minutes – because I'm pretty sure that after that song ended he would have drugged you with a drink and take you to who-knows-where to be sold as a human slave – Danny was actually surprised to hear his partner give away so much information about their ongoing investigation to this girl, but even more so to hear the answer she gave him.

\- Yeah, I was counting on that until you two big heads showed up! So thank you very much for totally ruining my plans.

\- Hold up. Wait a minute – said Danny – what are you talking about? You were counting on that? Just who exactly are you?

\- I told you… - but he didn't let her finish.

\- Name's Annabeth and that's all I need to know. I get it. Now, mind telling us why were you willingly setting yourself up to be taken away by him? – Danny had slowly come out of his shock and confused state and was crawling back to his pissed of self the more this girl talked and the less his partner did. Steve was uncharacteristically shy and that, combined with the smartass attitude of the girl was starting to get on his nerves – you know what? Why don't we go the office so we can speak more freely and you can finally explain to me what is going on here? – he had taken a deep breath before saying that to calm himself down because having this discussion on the parking lot of the night club they had been supposed to raid quietly wasn't exactly helping their cause. Especially after he had to publicly arrest their suspect.

\- All right – Steve surprisingly agreed, because he didn't want to handle this situation on that parking lot either, but when he made an attempt to put a hand on Annabeth's back to guide her towards the door of the car, she took a step back.

\- I'm not going anywhere – she stated.

\- Annabeth… - Steve started but she interrupted him.

\- I'm perfectly capable of getting out of here on my own and since you already shattered my plan there's no reason for me to still be here – she turned to Danny and waved mockingly with her hand – _Au revoir_ – then turned to Steve and locked eyes with him for a second without saying another word before turning around and start walking away.

Steve stood in place for exactly five seconds trying to decide what to do. Should he let her go? Should he go after her?

He knew that if he let her go know, there was a great chance they actually would never meet again; but if he went after her he would open up a door of mixed feelings and unanswered questions that would make him doubt everything he knew to be truth, just like meeting her two years ago had done; and that's actually the reason why he hadn't acted about finding out the truth about them when they had first met. But, if he was honest with himself, he had never quite forgiven himself for that. If fate had made them find each other again, he wouldn't… he couldn't… let her disappear.

\- Annabeth wait! – he took a few steps towards her and stopped when she did. She turned around with that cold stare that almost made him regret his decision, but he had to do this.

\- What? – she asked.

\- Listen. There's obviously a reason why you were after this guy. You're investigating him and we're investigating him. We have a whole case building up against what happens once girls are taken away and you must have information that could help if you managed to get this far. Just, come with us and let's share information. From one agency to another, let's help each other out – she had her arms crossed in front of her and her foot was tapping impatiently against the pavement floor. She was considering what he had just said and how his proposal could affect her own agenda.

\- If you want to let me in on your investigation that's fine, but I'm not obligated to share my part – she stated. She wanted to see how far he was willing to accept just to get her to go with them – I won't be interrogated, I can leave whenever I want and this is not a " _From one agency to another_ " thing – mostly because she didn't work for any agency anymore, she thought to herself – you think you can be cool with that? Or your partner for that matter? – she asked, looking briefly on Danny's direction.

\- Sure – Steve readily agreed. She smiled smugly.

\- Okay then – and she walked back to the car.

Her smile widened a little when she passed right next to Danny and saw the surprised expression on his face. She opened the back door and sat down next to the guy she had been dancing with; ignoring the look he sent her way.

Steve ran a hand through his hair and then down his face trying to regain his composure. He turned around and found a perplexed Danny staring at him demanding and explanation of what had just happened. He had caved to her demands way too easily and Danny thought his partner looked absolutely rattled about the sudden appearance of this girl. He was about to ask him about it when Steve shook his head.

\- Not now Danny, please – he said and walked to the driver's side of the Camaro.

Danny shut his mouth immediately. Normally he would have given his out-of-the-ordinary partner a piece of his mind in the form of a rant, but hearing him say please was enough to shut him up. Steve McGarrett never begged for anything and suddenly he was begging him not to give him a hard time about that night's events.

He watched his partner get into the car and start the engine; then looked at the girl sitting on the back seat and released a sigh.

Just who was this girl and why was she affecting Steve so much?

He got into the car and could only hope that the next few hours brought at least a few answers before he decided to lose his cool and eventually give Steve the mother of all hard times about what was going on there.

 **There you have it! I know Annabeth is a little smartass here but, like I said, for those of you who know how Steve's and Annabeth's relationship really is, things didn't start on the best of terms between them!**

 **I think it's a good way to explore this darker side of Annabeth. If you remember the last chapter of "Complicated Situations", when she was reflecting on her arriving at Hawaii, she did say she was "in a dark place emotionally"…. So I think this is how she would project herself to others.**

 **I hope you're finding this story interesting enough! A lot of the mysteries mentioned on my previous stories will be solved slowly throughout this one.**

 **I hope to read your comments soon! I just love your reviews!**

 **Until next chapter!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Well, well, well… looks like my muse decided to kick on good this time!**

 **Here you have another chapter. I think it's a little bit longer than the first two.** **Stephanie** **: I hope the lengths of the chapters in this story are good enough for you, although I don't know how long I'll be able to keep this up! I've always loved the fact that you can see my writing as a mini video in your head! Exasperation is one word to describe Danny all right! I also like the fact that you find this unpredictable! I must be doing something right here… Thanks for your review and I hope to read another one soon!**

 **Texas50Fan** **: thank you so much for your review! Danny will be demanding some answers in this chapter and I'm looking forward to see if the answers he gets are up to your expectations!**

 **Aquababy58** **: I just love an exasperated Danny, I think it's so funny and yes: he had to get in the middle of the discussion between Steve and Annabeth; it's just who he is… I know Annabeth a little bit of an "attitude" on the beginning of this story, but give her chance! As always: huge thanks for your wonderful review!**

 **Now, on with the show…**

Sitting in the back seat of the car, Annabeth focused on staring out of the window and keeping a somewhat neutral expression. She didn't want anyone to notice, especially McGarrett, how much meeting him tonight had affected her.

Seeing him brought memories of the worst day of her life and the beginning of a terrible spiral down the road. It had been two years since that day, and she still felt it like it was yesterday.

To be honest with herself, she wasn't exactly sure why she agreed to go with them to their office. It's not like she was actually running an investigation. She was just following leads hoping to find a missing girl: the cousin of the only friend she still had in England (Or in her entire life for that matter). It was sad, really.

Once she had been let go of the agency, she didn't have a whole lot of friends left and the only one who knew what she was had approached her about two month ago asking for help because her cousin had been kidnapped and the police hadn't been able to find anything. She had used her contacts and abilities to track the girl down to Hawaii and that's why she had been at the club that night. So, it was safe to say that running into the guy that had rescued her two years ago was the last thing she had ever expected to find when she agreed to help her friend.

Now, though, it was all she could think about. That day, the SEAL team entering the room and finding her, the weeks she had to spend on their base recovering from a long list of injuries, Alex…

Her train of thought had distracted her enough that she didn't notice they had arrived until a knock on her window brought her back from memory line.

\- You coming? – asked Danny – the door on the other side opened and Steve leaned in to take a hold of the suspect and haul him up and out of the car and she opened her door to step outside as well, being careful to put back that smug mask of indifference that helped her remain in control of her emotions.

They had arrived at a big building that looked more like a Palace than anything else. She would later learn its name, but right now all that actually registered in her mind was her surroundings: people walking from the building to the parking lot, police officers patrolling the otherwise lonely street and one big entrance that demanded attention upon reaching it. It was already late at night and there wasn't much movement around. Either way, her senses were on alert because she was on unfamiliar territory.

They reached the entrance and went through the ever present security check point. Both Steve and Danny presented their weapons and badges and were cleared without actually having to pass through the metal detector. They handed the suspect to a police officer to be processed and sent to one of the interrogation rooms while they finished with the security clearing. Annabeth, on the other hand, had to leave her small party bag on the counter to be passed through the x-rays machine and had to walk through the metal detector herself. No alarms went off and she was cleared to go ahead. She knew that wouldn't be an issue tonight because she wasn't carrying any type of weapon.

After that, she followed her two Five 0 companions up a flight of stairs and then over some corridors until they reached a set of glass doors that gave way to what appeared to be the task force's headquarters. The place was big and looked shiny and new. The place had air conditioning and, upon entering, she had to suppress the urge to wrap her arms around herself.; she was wearing a short dress after all, but she managed to hide the slight shills that ran through her body. In a minute or two she would get accustomed with the temperature.

She glanced around and saw two offices on each side while walking towards the middle of the place where a huge table occupied the center of the space. To one side of the table, a set of screens and monitors were actively running different programs and, beyond that, two more offices sat opposite each other.

She had noticed two people occupying the first two offices and, once the three of them had walked by, they had come out to greet them. One was a tall guy with an Asian look about him; he carried himself with calm and ease and offered her a small introductory smile. The other one was a girl. She was young, definitely the youngest of the four member of the task force and she was unmistakably local. She was thin and walked with enthusiasm. She smiled at her too when reaching the table that sat in the middle of the room. After making her first impression evaluation, Annabeth decided that they seemed generally kind.

They had gathered around the table and were all looking at McGarrett, who appeared to be the leader, waiting for him to start explaining things.

\- So – started asking the tall Asian looking man – how did it go at the club? Did you find the guy? – he left the third question unasked but everyone knew what he wanted to say when he glanced questioningly at the newcomer.

\- Yes, we got him – answered Danny instead of Steve – we also came across this young lady and maybe now that we're all here, they could both start explaining who she is and what is she doing here – he finished, looking between Annabeth and his partner. The other two members of the team caught up immediately with Danny's tone of voice and knew there was a story there. He sounded annoyed (which wouldn't be a surprise if he was just annoyed with Steve) but he also seemed to be annoyed by the girl – and I would like to know something a little bit more substantial than just your name – he finished, looking at her. Yep, he was definitely pissed at her.

\- So, you're like a special police division or something? – Annabeth asked, instead of answering the question. Seeing that Danny was about to lose his temper and Steve wasn't exactly very talkative right now, Chin decided to speak.

\- I'm sorry. We didn't introduce ourselves. My name is Chin Ho Kelly and this is Officer Kono Kalakaua. I guess you could say this is a special police division. We're the Governor's Five 0 Task Force – he finished – and, you are? – he asked.

\- Annabeth – she answered, glancing at the blond man to see his reaction – and… I should probably tell you that the rest of it is classified – Chin and Kono looked at her a little taken aback. Danny on the other side didn't make an effort to hide his temper.

\- Classi…? – he stopped mid sentence and turned to his right – Steve? – he asked him, almost pleadingly. His partner took a big breath and said.

\- Am I allowed to speak about it? – he asked Annabeth – I mean, I'm pretty sure that kind of information _is_ classified – she shrugged her shoulders.

\- I don't care, really. To hell with them – she said, referring to her previous "employees". Steve racked his brain looking for the best way to explain the situation.

\- Annabeth is a high valued US Government asset. We met approximately two years ago when a CIA mission went wrong and my SEAL team had to step in and help – he tried to keep it as simple as he could.

\- CIA? Do you work for the CIA? – asked Kono.

\- Not really.

\- What does he mean Government asset? – asked Chin.

\- I may or may have not helped the US Government prevent a few worldwide catastrophes.

\- Are you kidding us? – asked Danny – is she kidding us? – he asked Steve almost instantly.

\- I don't know all the details. All I know is that my orders were to lead a team to retrieve an important asset and it was her. I actually always assumed you worked for the CIA – he said, looking questioningly at her.

\- Nope. Not the CIA.

\- Okaaay… then who do you work for? – asked Danny again.

\- Right now? No one.

\- You know what? Enough with the short and useless answers – spat the detective. I want to know who you really are and why were you planning on getting drugged and taken away by the suspect – Annabeth glanced at the four of them, her eyes finally settling on the exasperated man asking the question. For a moment, she left aside her cryptic game and concentrated on the real reason she had gone to that club.

\- I'm looking for someone. I girl I know was kidnapped and my investigation led me to your suspect. Now, I'm pretty sure our deal was that if I came with you, you would be the one telling me about this case you have – she said, now looking at Steve.

\- You're right – he tapped some things into the table (which had turned out to be a smart table) and a few photos appeared on the screen – two days ago this girl was found dead. Since then, we have been able to connect her death with a human trafficking ring that specializes in young girls that are taken out of Hawaii and sold all around the world – Annabeth's eyes had remained glued to the photo of the young girl on the screen – was this the girl you've been looking for?

\- No – she answered – and you probably should know that they're not just getting girls put of Hawaii, but they're bringing them in too from other countries.

\- How do you know that? – asked Chin, surprised to see how much information this enigmatic character had.

\- Because the girl I'm looking for is from England – there was a short pause in the conversation as everyone processed this new piece of information.

\- Hold on for a second. I would still like to get back to the part where you explain why you were setting yourself up to be taken – asked Danny.

\- I wanted him to take me to where they keep the girls to see if the girl I'm looking for is there or at least find out where she was sent after being here – she answered as if her reasoning was the most obvious answer.

\- And so getting yourself drugged was your best solution? What if they hurt you? What if they didn't like you and killed you? What if you were so drugged and out of it that you where sitting right next to the girl and not realize it until either you or her got sent away again? – Danny had to admit that he hadn't liked the girl or her attitude upon meeting roughly an hour ago, but he also couldn't suppress his fatherly instinct when young girls were concerned.

\- I'm not stupid; I wasn't going to let him drug me. I was gonna let him believe he had done it. It's called acting and I'm pretty good at it – she added, obviously satisfied of her ability to pretend.

\- And just what makes you think you're capable of handling such an operation all by yourself huh? What are you, sixteen? – he asked, getting exasperated again by the overconfidence with which this young girl spoke of herself.

\- I'm eighteen – she corrected him.

\- Whatever… you didn't answer my question. What makes you think you would have been able to pull that off? – he repeated. She glance at the taller man standing next to the blond Detective for a second before answering.

\- Because I'm a spy.

 **Tan, tan, tan! She's a SPY!** **I know you all knew that (the ones who have read the previous stories at least) but what do you think about the conversation and the way the rest of them found out? We got a few short answers on this chapter but I couldn't give everything right away! I still need to maintain some mysteries for the rest of the story!**

 **So, what did you think? Did you like it? Did you find it interesting or tedious to read? I would love to know your honest opinion!**

 **I promise, action will come soon, I just need to finish laying down all the cards about this case!**

 **Remember: reviewwww! Pretty, pretty please!?**

 **Until next chapter!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello there! I apologize for taking so long into updating this new chapter, i've been dealing with some stress lately and well, writing just hasn't come naturaly this past few days and forcing it is not something i like to do. Today though my muse got inspired and so here you have it. I think this chater isn't as long as the previous ones but i think it's good. It will shead some light into the mysteries of the past. I hope you like it! Can't wait to read your comments!**

 **Enjoy!**

\- So what you're suggesting is to actually go on with your original plan? - asked Chin once Annabeth was done explaining her idea.

\- Yes! It makes the most sense: you want to bring the criminal organization down, I want to find the missing girl that most likely is here in Hawaii and I can give you access to the middle of the operation by setting myself up as bait. You know an undercover mission is one of the quickest ways to end this thing and i'm the perfect subject - she finished, evaluating everyone else's reactions.

\- I don't like it - stated Danny. The others weren't so opne into voicing their concerns or doubts about her idea, but she could still see it in their faces. Well, she had seen that comming and she had a plan as well.

\- You have children, don't you? - she asked directly to Danny, who was the most adamant into not letting her be the undercover agent. He eyed her reluctantly before answering.

\- Yes, one little girl.

\- That expains it then - she said confidently.

\- What are you talking about? - asked Steve.

\- Look - and she prepared herself to explain her reasoning - you are affected emotionally by this case, you understand the usefullness of my plan but are reluctant to agree to it because i'm a girl and i'm young. You can't avoid your paternal instincts and setting a girl up for bait goes against that primal urge to protect the young - for once in his life Danny was rendered speechless, as was everyone else. After her first argument, she turned to Chin - you, on the other hand are more open to my suggestion because you concentrate on the logical part of the plan. It is a good idea and you would use it as long as the rest of the team agrees - now, it was Kono's turn - you feel like you don't really have a say in the matter because you're too young yourself, you understand the oath of protecting other but you are curious as to what i'm capable of and if i could really pull this off - finally, she turned to Steve - and you, you debating yourself between the logic of a perfectly planned operation and the drilled duty of protecting innocent civilians from the ways of police and criminal world. But, the thing is, i am not a civilian - she finished, and she added just to keep a flare on the dramatic - or innocent.

There was a few minutes of silence while everyone digested everything she had just said.

They had to admit: there was truth to her words and maybe they hadn't even realized it until she voiced her evaluations out loud; because that's what they were: evaluations.

Kono was indeed impressed and curious as to how someone so young could carry herself with such confidence and knowledge. Chin was nothing if not curious himself, apart from the attitude, also for her background (one that promised to be incredibly interesting if the affirmation that she was a spy was actually true). Danny had already known that him being a father to a little girl was clouding his judgement of Annabeth. He understood that she wasn't normal, but the reluctance to agree to put her in harms way was still there. And Steve was in fact struggling to make a decision. He suspected that Annabeth was capable of taking care of herself, she was one of the most valued Goverment assets after all, but he had never seen her in action. He had been told during that rescue mission two years ago that the agents they were supposed to recover had indeed field training and were the best in what they did. Whatever that was always remained a question but he wasn't supposed to ask them anyway; he was only supposed to follow the orders.

And follow the orders he did. He had led his team into the holding facility were the two assets were being held against their will but arrived in time just to save one of them. The girl. The boy had been dead roughly an hour prior to the rescue and, by the state the girl had been found, she wasn't that far away behind. It was truly a miracle, later explained the doctor of the base, that she had managed to survive everything that had been done to her. The word torture was mentioned although the complete extent of her injuries had never been fully disclosed.

She had even required emergency surgery and a blood transfusion. Her type of blood was rare and they didn't have enough stashed on their makeshift sick bay. Flying her to a more equipped hospital had been temporarily out of the question because they hadn't been sure if she would make it through the trip. That's why they started asking for doners to be able to safe her. Her blood type turned out to be the same as his, and that's when everything had been turned upside down.

\- … listening? Earth to rambo? Are you there? - asked Danny, waving his arms in front of his face. He had been lost in the memory.

\- Sorry, what?

\- What are we going to do? Do we let her infiltrate the place as a victim or not? - Steve thought it over for just another second.

\- Okay - he started, speaking to everyone on his team - i understand that you have your doubts, i have them too, but if we think about it logically, the plan makes sense. You know we would have thought about it after interviewing our suspect. The only problem would have been finding a suitable candidate for the task. Don't take this personally Kono, you're young, but you wouldn't be able to pass for a seventeen year old girl - they all smiled a bit at his attempted humor - and Annabeth's right on one thing: she's not just a normal civilian. That doesn't mean though - he added, looking at her straight in the eyes - that you would go in blind. You would be wired enough for us to keep a direct comunication line with you and a way to track you down in case anything went wrong. Not that it should because we would be there to back you up within a three minute gap. So, if we should agree to do this, you have to agree that it would be on our terms. Correct police produce all the way.

Danny could do nothing more but stare at his boss after his rather intense speech. He could actually count with only the fingers on one hand the number of times Steve had spoken so much in one fluent rather large sentence. And, correct police procedure? Yeah right, that was rich comming from him. Or maybe Danny had finally begun to rub off on him just a little bit.

Kono and Chin were also a bit surprised but recovered quickly, smiling when apparently the plan had been approved.

Annabeth, on her part, was looking intently at Steve. She knew her assesment of him had been right. He was torn between the two most important aspects of his work: getting a job done and protecting other people's lifes. But she couldn't help a growing feeling inside her gut that there was more behind those words.

It hadn't been normal the way he'd reacted to finding her on the club and the seriousness in his face when he was talking about the safety measures to ensure she didn't get hurt on the mission were sending alarm bells inside her brain warning her that there could be something else underneath them.

Granted, she could be biased by her own thoughts on having run into him when least expected, but she had always thought she was a good judge in character. Her experience in the field had given her that.

Either way, the moment wasn't right to analyze it either; so she stuffed those thoughts deep inside her head to evaluate them further when she was alone again. Right now, she need to maintain her character, so she just shrugged.

\- Works for me - she conceeded. She also needed to concentrate on getting the job done.

\- Well, i think that settles it - Chin offered and the rest of them noded.

\- What do we do with the suspect downstairs? - asked Kono.

\- It's getting really late - Steve answered - let him stew overnight and we'll interrogate him in the morning. After that, we set up the operation. Now we should probably head home. It's been a long day.

Everyone agreed and soon said their goodbyes. Danny lingered a little bit longer with his partner trying to get some more information out of him about the girl and the past experience they had seem to share, but he didn't give him enything. So, at the risk of getting more frustrated by the cryptic answers Steve was giving he, too, said goodbye and left.

Annabeth was also about to head out the door when Steve caught up to her.

\- Are you staying somewhere? - he asked, walking with her after shutting the offices down.

\- I registered into a hotel earlier this afternoon when i arrived here.

\- You've only been on the island for about six hours and you were ready to take upon an undercover operation all by yourself? - Steve asked somewhat amazed.

\- Yeah, well, i hate wasting time - was her dismisal replay. She started heading towards the sidewalk when he offered.

\- I can drive you. You don't plan on walking all the way there, do you? Wearing those? - he pointed to her high heels. She looked down and hen up at him.

\- 'course not. Figured i'd call a cab.

\- There's no need. Tell me where the hotel is and i'll take you. Come on - he prompted when she looked like she was debating whether to accept or not.

In the end, she did. She figured it wouldn't hurt and it would save her a couple of bucks from her pocket.

It would also give her some time to enhance her evaluation of on one Lt. Commander Steve McGarrett because something about his demeanor didn't quite fell into place with him. And since they'd be working together for at least a couple of days, she wanted to understand him better.

After they got into his blue truck, he startd the engine and headed towards the direction of her hotel.

 **And that's it for now! Did you like it?**

 **What about the tiny piece of information about the rescue mission? I think i'll explore more scenes of it in the chapters to come because that would help explain Annabeth's attitude a little bit more!**

 **I really hope to hear from you guys soon!**

 **Until next chapter!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Here is chapter 5! I wasn't sure where this chapter was headed when i started to write it but along the way it just claimed a direction on its own. I hope this satisfys the curiosity a little bit!**

 **Thenk you Aquababy58 and Stephanie for leaving a review on the last chapter! You made me smile with the comments! I hope this new chapter is up to your standarts!**

 **Enjoy!**

\- This is where you're staying? - Steve asked in surprise when arriving at the hotel she had given him directions for. Not that it could actually be considered a hotel - this is worst than where Danny lives!

\- He lives in a hotel? Why? - she asked, geniunely curious.

\- That's a long story - he answered, comming to terms with a decision he had just made - you can't stay here - she just stared at him.

\- Why not? It's cheap and available. That's all i need right now - she opened the door of the truck and made an attemp to step out. Steve wondered for a fraction of a second if maybe he was pushing his luck too much but, in reality, he just didn't understand the sudden need to take care of her that had hit him so hard ever since finding her dancing with a criminal on that night club.

\- Look, i don't mean to be a nuisance but there's no need for you to stay at a place like this. I have plenty of room in my house and it would be free and available - he said, using her same argument to try and convince her - you haven't payed upfront your stay here, have you? - she eyed him reluctantly.

\- No… i wasn't sure how much time i'd be here so i just pay day by day - why was he offering her his home for her to stay? Again, she thought about his odd behavior during the night and she wondered briefly if she should be worried at him fussing over her like that. Being mad at finding her partying? Concerned about her safety on a mission? Offering to drive her and then offering his house? Or maybe it was just good manners. The man was military after all.

She wasn't sure if she should accept te offer or not. She had actually been looking forward to spending her time alone so she could come to terms with having run into the man that had saved her life a couple of years back and that had inadvertently opened up a torrent of bad memories inside her mind.

She wasn't sure if she was making the right decision now or not, but she figured she could always leave if she felt like it. Accepting his offer wouldn't mean compromising her will, it would in fact give her more time to collect information on the man before reaching a conclusion about his behavior. She wasn't scared of him. She could defend herself if anything were to happen. She really didn't think anything would, but her experience in life had taught her in a not too gentle manner to always be prepared and suspicious of everyone.

Finally she made a decision and accepted. If only because somehow, unexplicably, she felt the tiniest little bit drawn to him because of the exact same thing that made her want to get away from him: the memories. The memories that became stronger the moment she felt her arm being tugged at the club and she had looked at his face. She had felt transported in time to when she was rescued from that place; a place where she was still with him… with Alex.

Shaking her head a little to get that last image out of her head, she sighed.

\- Okay. Fine. But only because it would be easier for you to drive me to your offices in the morning. If i'm already saving the money from the taxi cabs, might as well take advantage of it and not spend money on this place. Et me get my things and check out.

When she sliped out of the car and into the poor excuse of a hotel, Steve rested for a moment his head on the seat.

If he was being honest with himself, he was feeling a bit scared. He was willing to open up the door of uncomfortable questions that acompanied the fact that the two of them were related because he was feeling guilty at not having done anything about it when he first found out. He let his memory take him back to that moment and he remembered every detail of that day.

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 _\- What's the word on her condition Doc? - asked Steve after a couple of hours from arriving at the base with their precious cargo._

 _\- She's weak. Definitely hurt badly and unable to be moved at the moment. But if she doesn't get a blood transfusion soon, i won't be able to operate on her and she'll probably succumb to her injuries._

 _\- Which are? - he asked, curious to better understand the condition the girl was in and to prepare himself for the posibility of her dying and then the mission being completely futile._

 _\- I'm not at liberty to discuss that with anybody - the doctor on the base told him, but understanding the younger man's concern - but i wouldn't have want to be a prisoner of whoever she was and i am certanly surprised that she has survived the kind of torture infilcted upon her - Steve flinched at the word and tried to wrap his mind arround it._

 _This mission had been strange from the beggining. Names were never disclosed; not of the people they were supposed to rescue or of the man they were being supposed to be rescued from. He had never undertaken a mission were so little information was on display and that had unnerved him a lot. He was supposed to lead his team, his men, into an almost unknown location, with no real information of how many hostiles they were going to meet, or who exactly the target was. His CO had only said: you'll know when you find them. The only detail his CO had been able to provide was the fact that the assets were well trained and maybe they would have been able to help given the odds that they run into trouble on the way back to base. And, for all that the response had frustrated him, he had been right (well, only on the first part of his statement): from the moment they had stepped into the place they had recognized who was the bad guy and who were the poor souls that had suffered at his hands. The momentarily sense of accomplishment that followed finding the two Goverment assets was short lived though when they realized one of them was already dead, so the mission had already failed on a 50% scale. They were able to recover the girl, but the mastermind of the kidnapping was nowhere to be found. Apparently he had gotten away, and his team wasn't able to go after him because their orders were not to engage with the man if the case of him getting away ever happened. The priority was to recover the kids. And he shuddered remembering that the targets had been indeed kids._

 _The girl couldn't have been more than 15 years old and so, hearing the doctor's news on her condition wasn't not only a blow to his pride as a Navy SEAL (for they were maybe hours away from a completely failed mission) but a realization that somehow very young kids had been able to get mixed into a world that shouldn't had been thought for them._

 _\- So, what are you going to do? - he asked the doctor then._

 _\- There's not enough bood of her type on our reservations for us to conduct the emergency surgery, so i need people to donate blood now or she won't have a chance._

 _\- All ask around who's willing to donate - Steve stated before turning on his heels and walking away._

 _In the end, only three people had been a match to her blood type and one of them had been him. He hadn't even hesitated about donating all the blood he could if it meant saving the girl's life._

 _What he hadn't expected though, was the expression on the same doctor's face when he called for him to join him in his office about twelve hours later to discuss some troubling findings on his blood work._

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He was suddeny snnaped from his toughts when the door of the passenger seat opened again and Annabeth hoped back in.

\- Done - she announced.

And he set course to his house.

\- So…you don't work for the CIA? - he asked, both to fill up the silence in the car and to satisfy his curiosity.

\- I've worked with them but i don't work for them - she answered after debating how much to tell him. She had been truthfull when she had expressed, maybe not so nicely, that she didn't give a damn about the classified information surrounding her life as a spy. She didn't work for any agency now and, seriously, they had screwed up with her life so much she just didn't care about the consequences anymore. That didn't mean though that she liked publicly sharing the information of her past to everyone who asked. She also considered that it wouldn't be for her benefit to tell him she was actually acting solo on this one. He might cancell the operation and shut her out of the investigation and, as much as she knew she could find the girl she was looking for on her own, she knew that having the help of the task force would speed things up.

\- Who do you work for then? - he asked, keeping his eyes on the road as if he wasn't really interested on the answer.

\- I'm not sure if you have the clearence to know so… - she trailed off, not really answering the question and hoping he would drop the matter. After a few more minutes of silence, he said something entirely different.

\- It's good to see you up and about it, unlike the last time we met - he commented. Her mind drifted off briefly to the time she had spent in the base recovering after the rescue and suddenly a thought striked her.

\- I never thanked you, did i? - he asked, and this time Steve did looked at her because her tone of voice had gone suspiciously down.

\- You didn't have to. I was doing my job and i understood that you weren't feeling too well with what you had lost - he answered calmly and a little surprised because for te first time that day he had actually seen some emotion in her eyes.

\- Well, i should have. No matter what you saved my life and i know that when you donated your blood you had to give up another mission you and your team were already assigned to because you weren't allowed on the field at least 72 hours after that. So… thank you - he smiled at her and nodded, accepting her gratitude. Annabeth had made an effort of hiding all her emotions when saying that, despite the mention of the one thing she had truly lost that day, but Steve was able to see some of it in her face.

\- We're here - he announced at last when arriving at his house.

He showed her to the guest room and told her to make herself at home. He knew he was saying that to be polite, but inside he couldn't help but wonder at the irony of the statement.

It wasn't until he was laying on his bed staring at the ceiling that he let himself remember the moment when he had found out the truth. A truth he hadn't been prepared to deal with at the time and that maybe, just maybe, he was preparing to deal with now.

 **I wasn't sure if i should have continued with the memory of the rescue mission but, as i was writing it, i became too engrosed with it and it was turning to be too long. Since i LOVE keeping up the mystery and the secret past well hidden, i decided to end the memory right there! Don't hate me! I just gotta keep the interest up so you don't get bored on reading the rest of the story!**

 **I would like to know what you think though about the information disclosed by Steve's memory of the past! SO feel free to leave a review! Also, i don't think i've ever done a linebreak about thoughts on the past before… let me know if you liked it or not!**

 **As always… untill next chapter!**


	6. Chapter 6

**I couldn't stop myself from writing another chapter! Today writing had helped me relax more than ever, so here's anther chapter already! In the end I like how this one came out… I would love to hear what you guys think about it too!**

 **Enjoy!**

\- _Did the surgery work? Is she going to be okay? – Steve asked upon entering the small office where the doctor worked. He could see a troubled expression on the older man's face, hence the question._

\- _I did all i could and she's stable for now. Critical still, and we'll have to see how she improves, if she improves, so she can be taken to a proper hospital._

\- _That's good, i guess – Steve answered, not really understanding why the doctor wanted to tell him in that private. After a few seconds, the man asked._

\- _Were you aware of the situation before taking this mission? – the question was a bit vague._

\- _What situation?_

\- _I'm surprised that they even let you participate on the rescue, unless they didn't know? – still, the doctor wasn't making much sense._

\- _I'm sorry, i'm not following. Know what, exactly? – he asked, confused by now. The doctor looked at him suspiciously and the thought striked him suddenly._

\- _You don't know either, do you? – Steve was starting to get angry now; it was safe to say he wasn't a very patient man._

\- _Know what? – he repeated his previous question somewhat loudly._

\- _Your relationship with the girl – Steve looked at him blankly._

\- _I'm not sure what you mean. I've never met the girl before today._

\- _Oh boy… then this is going to be more awkward than i thought – the doctor sighed._

\- _Doc, what are you talking about?_

\- _Listen, after you donated the blood, we had to run some tests because she had been injected with different kinds of drugs and we needed to take every possible precaution to ensure that she wasn't going to reject the transfusion even if the blood was from the same type. She received it without problem and that's why she's stable now. So, you pretty much saved her life with what you did._

\- _Okay… I still don't understand what situation you're talking about – Steve commented._

\- _When we were running the tests in your blood, we found something – for a second, Steve feared he was talking about a disease or something like that, but what the doctor said next couldn't possibly be true – your blood was a direct match to hers and you share the DNA structure most commonly found in sibblings._

\- _What? – Steve was totally confused. Sibblings? It wasn't possible – sorry doc, but there must have been a mistake. I only have one sister and it's not her._

\- _There is no mistake Steve. The DNA doesn't lie. You are related to her not only by a few similarities, but by enough to assume you have the same parents. Both of them – Steve was speechless after that. It just wasn't possible! No one had ever told him he had another sister! He was young when his mother had died but not young enough to not remember having another sibbling. His father had never talked about it and there had never been any indication. The girl was too young; it couldn't have been possible… his mother was dead. His mother was dead._

 _He kept thinking that it must have been a mistake. To think otherwise would have been to question everything his parents had ever taught him. His father would have never have had an affair with another woman, but the doctor said they had the same parents. Both of them. If the girl was this young…_

 _His thoughts trailed off. He couldn't think about it. It wasn't possible._

 _After that day, he had stayed on the base for almost three weeks until he and his team had been moved to another country. He hadn't seen the girl much. He had stopped by the recovery room a total of four times to see how she was doing. He had tried making small talk with her when she had regained consciousness, but the emotional state she had been on prevented her from maintaining a civilized conversation. She was devastated by the loss of the boy, her boyfriend (he had later found out), to the point of not even responding to any of his questions._

 _He had been curious but he didn't want to press the matter because he wasn't sure he actually wanted to find out the answers to his questions. So he had let her be. And then, he had left thinking he was never going to see her again._

 **H50H50H50H50H50H50H50H50H50H50H50H50H50**

The alarm on the clock from his bedside table went off and he startled awake from his dream. He had been remembering how he had found out about his relashionship with Annabeth and, although he hadn't been very keen to accepting that as the truth, he had taken the offered DNA analysis the doctor on the base had given him and he had studied it for a while even after he was reassigned to another country. He didn't exactly understand everything the paper said, so he had asked another doctor if what the results showed were true. When receiving confirmation, he had no other choice but to believe it.

He looked briefly to the drawer on the bedside table, nowing he still had the paper with him even after all this time. He didn't know what he was supposed to do know. Should he tell her? Would she believe him? Would he be able to let her go once the case was finished?

He supposed he would have to tell her at some point but not before the undercover operation. He wouldn't compromise her by sending her to the field with her head out of the game. Although, to be honest, his head wasn't completely in the game either.

He got up from the bed, having already wasted enough time, and quickly made his way into his usual morning routine. Today he chose to swim because the water always helped clear his thoughts better than a run ever could and by the time he was finished showering and making coffe, Annabeth was coming out of the guestroom, fully dressed and ready to start the day.

\- So – she said as a way of greeting – does this improvised stay includes breakfast or do you charge extra for that?

\- Sorry. No breakfast. I was thinking about stoping to pick it up on our way to the palace. Coffee though, comes for free – he responded, feeling somehow strange but pleased with the light encounter. As he had remembered from his dream, he had never really talked to her that much and somehow he knew that the attitude she had showed the day before wasn't really all she was. He could already see that some of the anger her posture had held all night had almost completely vanished. Being replaced by an easy step and a joke to start off the day.

\- Ugh…coffee… - she repeated, making a face – only if you have enough sugar to obliterate the taste.

\- You don't like coffee?

\- Only when it's steaming hot and sweeter than candy – Steve made a face of his own but reached for the sugar inside one of the cupboards.

\- Suit yourself – he said.

They fell into a comfortable silence while drinking their coffe and, after that, Annabeth wondered a bit through the living room while Steve washed the cups and gathered his stuff to go out.

She stopped by the wall that contained more pictures and studied them one by one. She could see four people being displayed in them in various stages of age and she saw the perfect opportunity to gather information to add to her evaluation when Steve came down the stairs and into the living room.

\- Is this your family? – she asked him. He froze for a second wondering if she had recognized someone but quickly recovered.

\- Yeah. That's my dad, my mom and my sister Mary – he answered.

\- Do they live here in Hawaii? – she asked lightly. For a second he didn't respond and just stared at the pictures.

\- My mom died when I was young. My sister lives on the mainland and my dad… he lived here but he was killed a short time ago.

\- Oh… I'm sorry – she said quickly, and she meant it.

\- Yeah… me too – he answered and quickly turned the tables – what about your parents? Any sibblings? – he wanted to know how much she did or didn't know.

\- No. Just me. My parents died when I was younger – she didn't offer any more information so he pressed on.

\- You don't have any other relatives?

\- I only had him – she said softly, still looking at one of the pictures of his family. And suddenly, Steve was sorry he had asked because the sorrow he saw on her eyes held the same intensity it had when he had confirmed her that the boy had indeed died the first time she had woken up from her recovery. But the display of emotion was rapidly covered up by a hard stare and the return of the angry voice – what are we waiting for? We have a job to do – and she turned around and headed out the door.

Right then he knew that she used anger to hide her pain and, without warning and without making much sense to him, his heart clenched because he had allowed her to remain alone after the only person she had left had died.

Taking a minute to readjust his emotions, he followed her outside and into the truck. She was right after all: they had a job to do.

 **Aaaaaaaand that's the end of the chapter! What did you think about Annabeth and Steve's interaction? We saw a little bit (when they were talking about the coffee) of how their relashioship will be in the future, which is how I describe them in my other stories… I know the timeline of the stories might be confusing but I really wasn't thinking about making this a kind of series when I first posted "Unexpected Events". Somehow though, I think it worked to some extent the fact that you already know some of the things that happen in the future, letting me get creative with how to maintain the mystery of it all!**

 **I suppose soon we'll be seeing some action because they do have to catch some bad guys, but I honestly can't assure you anything. I thought I had it all planned at the beginning but as things were unfolding, the focus of the story changed a little bit and now even I don't know where the chapters are headed when I start to write them. I guess that could be a good thing because I can surprise myself at the end of each one!**

 **Well… enough rambling! Please don't forget to leave a review!**

 **Untill next chapter!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Alright people: here's another chapter for you to enjoy on this fine Sunday! This one is the longest one yet and it's specially for my friend Aquababy58 (you know why!) although I suppose the rest of you wouldn't mind a longer chapter today!**

 **This chapter turns the drama into a little bit of humor at some points because I needed to write a lighter chapter. I think it worked out well enough but, ultimately, you'll be the ones deciding that and (hopefully) telling me in a review.**

 **Stephanie:** **I can't even begin to describe to you how much your review for the last chapter reached me! I love the fact that you really really really really are enjoing this because I really really really really am ejoying writing it. I do try to post as often as I can, even under the risk of forgetting about real life… if I could have it my way, I would choose to stay in this world as well. I would love to know what you think of this new chapter! So I expect to read a review from you soon! I hope you like it! I also know you like longer chapters!**

 **Aquababy58:** **I know we talked about the main theme that should be displayed in this story but I couldn't completely leave aside the case! Steve's feelings will continue to be explored though further on. I hope you find this chapter good enough and entertaining! Can't wait to know what you think about it! Also, thank you for your last review! I guess we'll have to see how Steve will answer such a deep question because, truth be told, I don't even know!**

 **Enjoy!**

Given the fact that the night before there had been some tension in the air because of the mystery surrounding the girl Steve and Danny had brought from the club, Kono had decided to stop for malasadas in the morning to share with everyone.

She knew that just the sight of them would instantly put Danny in a better mood; her cousin would also be glad to eat some, although she knew Steve would probably refuse saying he cared for his heart health too much. Well, more for them then.

When she arrived at work, everyone else was already there and the second he saw the bag, Danny was out of his office and giving her a hug of thanks before grabbing it and putting it on the big conference table.

\- Hey! That's for everyone else too! – she told him when he saw the hungry look in his eyes.

\- Yeah, yeah – he said before diving for the first one. After just a few more minutes, Steve interrupted him though.

\- Come on Danny. Time to interview our suspect – he announced and Danny had to reluctantly leave the malasadas behind. The two partners headed for the interrogation room the suspect had been held during the entire night while Annabeth, Kono and Chin stayed behind to watch everything through the cameras that reported the live feed to the screens above the smart table. At first there was a little bit of an awkward silence until Kono said.

\- You can try some. They're really good – and she took one for herself.

\- What are they? – Annabeth asked.

\- Malasadas and I think you could call them the local doughnuts.

\- Only better – Chin added and grabbing only one malasada.

\- I'll try one – Annabeth conceded and took a bite out of one. The cousins had been right: it was like a doughnut but with a hint of something else she just couldn't quite place. She finished it a took another one – wow… this is really good.

\- Yes. We love them although Steve doesn't like to eat them. Says they're bad for his health – Kono said and Annabeth laughed a bit.

\- So he's that type of a guy huh? Workout/protein shakes/drink raw eggs type of a guy?

\- Something like that – answered Chin.

\- I didn't think all army men were the same but I all I've known so far haven't disappointed in that department – Annabeth commented while enyoing her malasada until she saw the expression on the other two – what? – she asked.

\- Steve's not in the Army – Chin answered – he's in the Navy.

\- I know. Why? – she asked referring to their facial expression when she had mentioned the Army – is it a crime to confuse the term around here? – the cousins laughed.

\- No. It's just that he doesn't like it when people say he's in the Army and not the Navy. He's pretty adamant about it actually – was Kono's reply – Danny does it all the time. It gets on his nerves – they all laughed at that.

\- So that gets on his nerves right? – she asked maliciously with a hint of humor in her voice – that's good to know.

\- Well, if you're gonna start using that to antagonize him, you and Danny can open a club – Chin joked while turning to the table and setting up the video of the interrogation that was about to start on the screen.

The thing didn't last more than half an hour. The guy they had arrested the previous night begun singing like a bird everything he knew under the steely glare from Steve and the almost non stop scenarios that Danny had come up with about what life in prison was going to be for him if he didn't cooperate.

So they found out the way girls were picked up from the club and delivered to be evaluated by the heads of the organization to determine what work fit them better. The guy's only job was to pick up the healthiest looking ones from the club and deliver them to the arranged location. Lucky for them, the location was always the same and it didn't appear to be heavily guarded, judging by what the suspect was telling them.

As it turns out, Annabeth's attempt to be taken last night would have been futile because yesterday hadn't been a "collecting night", as the guy had called it. They didn't take girls every day because it would eventualy be too suspicious and they didn't want every missing girl investigation pointing towards the club. They had a good scheme going on in which they made sure the girls were seen leaving the club before actually being taken. The guy confessed to drugging the girls just enough to make them weak and unstable on their feet so they could walk out of the bar on their own accord but get taken easily just a block away from the door.

Danny was livid by the time they left the interrogation room and headed upstairs to where the rest of them were waiting to hear the game plan. A game plan they needed to come up with fast because today was a "collecting night".

\- So… the idiot has agreed to play along and pretend to put something in your drink and signal you as the girl to be taken when you walk out of the club. You're gonna have to act all drunk and high for a while, at least until they take you to the "test location" where they'll decide your future after a quick once-over – not only the tone of his voice but the frankness of his words let them know that Danny was indeed angry and already having second thoughs about the plan. On his part, he was thinking that if he laid it all out there without sugarcoating the basics of the operation, then maybe Annabeth would be reluctant to put herself in danger like this.

\- Perfect – Annabeth said. Oh well… wishful thinking.

\- What happens after she arrives at the location? – asked Kono. This time, Steve answered.

\- We need to find out if this "test location" is the final destination of the girls before they get shipped out or if they get taken to another holding facility before that. And, if so, how many there are and where so we can coordinate with HPD and take the places down. What we are hoping for is that this "test location" is the only one out there so it can be taken down quickly and the organization brought down with it.

\- Okay – said Chin – so the picture we have so far is that they operate with diferent "collecting" sites, the night club being one of them, and one "test location". We still need to determine the existence of other "test locations" or any other holding facility after that.

\- Correct – confirmed Steve.

\- It may sound simple Boss but finding out from the inside could take more than just one night – said Kono – what if she has to stay in there for longer than that to be able to find the information?

\- Don't worry about me – Annabeth answered, not giving Steve the chance to do it – I don't care how much time I have to spend inside, but I'm not leaving until I find the girl I'm looking for and we can bring the organization down. No one else should have to suffer at their hands – she spoke with such certainty that they all understood that she not only was doing this just for the one girl she had been tasked to find but for all the other ones that had been taken as well, and they admired her spirit for that. It was a quality they could all relate to: helping others. It was the main reason they had all chosen their careers, and Steve couldn't help the flash of thought that assaulted him at that exact moment, because Annabeth fit the profile to work with Five-0, maybe even on a more regular basis.

\- Remember that she's going to be wired for communication so we'll hear everything she hears and I was thinking maybe she could leave bugs wherever she walked by so we can monitor every conversation even when she's not present. That way we could determine the information we need to make the decision to intervene the place tonight or not.

\- Sounds good but how is she going to take the listening devices with her? We have to assume they'll search her and remove every personal items – pointed Danny.

\- Well, I'll have my clothes and my shoes. I can hide them there. Bugging the place shouldn't be a problem – Danny gave her a doubtful look – look, believe it or not, I've done this before and I know my way around undercover work. Like I said yesterday: I'm good at acting. Besides, they target young and party type girls; its not like the're going to make me walk through a metal detector or strip me to a polygraph.

\- She has a point there – commented Chin.

\- Oh great! You're all on her side now? – he asked a bit annoyed by the way everyone talked about the mission so lightly – why are you all so okay with this? This is a kid we're talking about here! You say you've done this before but how can we know? – he finished asking towards Annabeth.

\- I guess you're going to have to let me prove it, don't you? – she retorted back, holding her ground. They had reached a kind of impasse and for a moment, all the tension from the previous night had returned to the room. After a few seconds of staring at each other, Danny sighed heavily.

\- You're as stubborn as a mule. You two could be related for all I know! – he said, pointing between her and his partner. Steve froze for a second at hearing the particular choice of words from Danny but quickly recovered when he reminded himself that there was absolutely no way his partner could know about the truth behind his statement.

\- Yeah well, I guess being in the Army does that to you – Annabeth stated, looking at Chin and Kono with a little bit of glee in her eyes.

\- I'm not in the… - Steve started to correct her but was interrupted by another question from Danny.

\- You've been in the Army? Now, _that_ is impossible.

\- You're right. It _is_ impossible but if you want to check that, you just have to call.

\- You're not serious, are you? – he asked.

\- I'm not with them. I spent a month training with them before a mission several years back – she responded – I guess the Army stubborn gene is contagious, don't you think so Steve?

\- But I'm not in the… - he was interrupted again.

\- I know, I know. It's the Navy, right? – Steve saw the look both Chin and Kono shared with Annabeth before the three of them began to laugh. It was only a matter of time before Danny joined them with a few giggles of his own although he was still trying to wrap his head around the information Annabeth had revealed about her past.

\- Its not funny – he grumbled.

\- I beg to differ – said Danny.

\- Whatever; lets focus here, shall we? Chin, contact HPD and let them know the time line of the plan. I want them well positioned behind us to provide backup when needed. Kono and Annabeth, run the few names the suspect gave us and see if you can match them with a face. Danny and I will head out to pick up the surveillance equipmet.

\- Will do – answered Chin.

\- Got it Boss – said Kono.

\- Emmm, a word? – asked Annabeth. Steve nodded and guided her to his office.

\- Everything all right? You don't mind working with Kono, do you? – he asked, thinking that maybe she was going to protest the way he had assigned her a job even though she isn't part of the task force.

\- What? No, no… that's fine – she replied – about your partner…

\- Danny – he supplied the name.

\- Is he going to be an issue during the mission? I mean, he's not like… going to jump in at the first sign of trouble and blow the whole thing up? – she asked with a little bit of guilt because it was his partner she talking about, but she needed to be prepared in case he could become an uncontrollable variable in the game.

\- No. He's worried and he doesn't like the plan but he's not going to jeopardize your security by storming into an undercover operation. He knows, maybe better than all of us, the right procedure to follow.

\- It's not my safety I'm concerned about. It's the integrity of the mission – Steve felt the need to defend his partner a bit more.

\- That won't be a problem either. If there's someone you can count on to make sure everything goes according to plan its him.

\- Okay then – she said and then she added – sorry, I just wanted to make sure. I don't have anything against him.

\- It's okay. I'll talk to him anyway, try to breach his doubts down.

After that, they all set to do what needed to be done.

On their way to gather the necessary equipment to rig the "test location" with listening devices, Steve talked to Danny.

\- Is there a reason you don't like Annabeth?

\- It's not that I don't like her – he replied – but I find her just a little bit too cocky about her abilities. We don't even know if half of what she's said of herself is true.

\- Well… I did my digging early this morning.

\- Which means you called your lady friend on the ship – Danny corrected with a smirk on his face.

\- Funny – Steve told him – but no. I called a contact of mine from the CIA. At first he was reluctant to give me any information, I assume it's because they wouldn't be too keen into admitting they used teenaged kids to do any kind of work for them. I asked about the mission gone bad that made them ask for our help.

\- Why _did_ they need your help anyway? – Danny interrupted him, curious to know.

For a moment, Steve considered if he should tell his partner the whole story or not (minus the DNA test, obviously). There had never been a classified tag on the mission, even though they were made to approach the situation as quietly as possible. The US Government had specifically requested the retrieval of the two assets, so they weren't openly denying their involvement with the teenagers getting taken, and they never received the order not to mention this to anyone. Not literally anyway.

Seeing as he was asking his partner to trust him with an operation such as the one they were about to set, and knowing how the fact that it was a young girl's well being was affecting him, he decided to tell him everything.

He told him about the misson his team had been assigned to rescue the two assets that apparently had been taken prisoners; the lack of information, the weirdness of it all, finding out who the targets were and how young they were. The failure of having arrived too late to save one of them and the condition the other one had been in. The struggle to get her out of the place and into the safety of their base. Her battle against the many injuries she had suffered and the way he had saved her life by donating blood for the surgery.

\- At first it was hard to believe, but I couldn't deny what I had seen with my own eyes. No normal kid could have survived what she went through. And what my contact in the CIA said confirmed it – he finished.

\- What did he say?

\- That they could neither confirm nor deny her involvement with the CIA or any mission connected to them. We both know what that means…

Danny had listened intently to the whole story and he had to admit: it was impressive. It was true: no normal kid could have survived something like that and bounce back without mental scars for life if they hadn't received the necessary training to do so. The confirmation of it all also left him a sour taste in the mouth.

\- All right. I guess I didn't want to believe it because it's very hard for me to accept that the country we work so hard to protect everyday would willingly use young kids and play with their lifes like that.

\- I hear you man – Steve agreed – but I suppose what's done is done. She's the one offering to do this and apparently she is quite capable of doing it. I know what you feel, but we won't let her get hurt; and we'll shut down this entire organization and save the rest of the girls – that did it.

\- Fine! But anything goes wrong and I'm blaming you McGarrett.

\- Oh yeah? What else is new? – Steve joked and put a hand on his partner's shoulder letting him know he appreciated the confidence.

The rest of the day passed by in coordinating the operation.

Annabeth could notice the slight change in Danny's way to talk to her. He was more open about going through the details of the mission with her and actually managed to crack a joke or two during the afternoon.

Chin and Kono had completed their tasks and together, the five of them were reviewing the last part of the plan. Steve couldn't help but admire the way the whole team was interacting with Annabeth and, in turn, her with them. They laughed when a joke was told, helped each other when someone encountered a wall wehile investigating a lead on the names provided by the suspect and they had all enjoyed lunch together in the office. Even Danny didn't seem so grumpy anymore.

So maybe this could really work out; and he wasn't thinking about tonight's mission.

 **Uff… it** ** _was_** **a long chapter to write! I hope it wasn't boring! I promise that action will soon make itself known! You know I can't write a story without action right in the middle of it! Annabeth has to prove her worth after all right?**

 **Can you guess what Steve was thinking at the end? It should be pretty obvious!**

 **I would love to hear your thoughts about this chapter!**

 **I can't promise to post another chapter today but I'll do my best… everything indicates that I will but I don't think it will be as long as this one. The length of this chapter was a special gift!**

 **Well… I guess all that's left to say is: until later today!**


	8. Chapter 8

**As promised! Another chapter today! Not quite as long as the previous one but, hopefully, more interesting!**

 **Thank you so much for your reviews Aquababy58 and Stephanie!**

 **Enjoy!**

\- Is everyone in position? – asked Steve through the comm.

\- In position – responded Chin who had been tasked with covering the back of the club.

\- I'm in – said Kono shortly because she was currently keeping eyes on their suspect inside the club.

\- Same here – came Annabeth's voice – about to enter the place.

\- Remember the distress word? – Danny asked her.

\- Malasadas. I got it.

\- Look sharp guys. The game's about to begin.

Steve and Danny were both on the Camaro parked on the opposite sidewalk of the night club. They hadn't gone into the actual parking lot like last time because they needed the quick getaway route the street provided to be able to follow Annabeth once she got taken out of the street.

It had been agreed that Kono would head into the club to keep tabs on their recently released suspect to make sure he followed the plan and to remind him with her presence that Five-0 had him on their sight at all times. Either way, the guy was wired to ensure he wouldn't say anything to anyone while everything went down.

At exactly 9:00 p.m., Annabeth made her way inside. She had chosen to wear black tights underneath a short skirt and a red tank top, keeping it simple within the acceptable night club attire so she could be able to maneuver her way around any situation without much discomfort. She would have to endure the red high heels for now. She headed to the bar first where she asked for a drink and stayed there enjoying it for a while was she swiped the place in recognition. She had spotted Kono at one end of the bar but didn't pay too much attention to her. After that, she had found their suspect quickly enough sitting on one of the many couches around the area talking with two girls. She could see they guy was nervious because he wasn't sporting the self satisfied grin he had the day before when trying to hit on her.

She made a show of going to the dancing area and actually dancing with some random people before, right on cue, the guy approached her following the plan. They danced together to the music blaring off the sound system and they could all hear vaguely Danny complaining about the blasted music coming through his ear.

\- Come have a drink! – the suspect spoke close to her – we can talk better there! – Annabeth laughed and kept dancing for a few more seconds as if she didn't want to stop.

\- Sure! – she eventually said and the guy took her hand to lead her away. When they reached the bar, he leaned over and asked for their drinks. Once they had them, he led them to one of the couches less crowded.

\- So what's your name? – he asked, again, following the script.

\- Alice, and you?

\- I'm Kaholo…

And so the conversation went for at least an hour until Kaholo had to stand up to go get more drinks and pretend to put something in hers. She finished it some time after he got back and was actually putting on quite a show of laughing harder than normal and giggling stupidly as if she was starting to get drunk.

\- Show time guys – Kono whispered into her comm, giving them the signal they had been waiting for. Danny grabbed his phone and made the call.

Annabeth's phone started to ring and she had to disentangle from the guy's too close embrace, apologizing because she really needed to take the call; so she excused herself and answered.

\- Hey ma! – she greeted, dragging out the word longer than necessary effectively accentuating her drunkenness.

\- I thought we had agreed I was going to be your dad – Danny protested on the other side of the line.

\- Chill out _moooom_ I'm with some friends. Remember I'm staying at Macy's tonight!

\- Remember you're supposed to sound drunk – she laughed.

\- 'm not drinking. Promissse – she hissed, giggling and bringing her hand to her head as if she was starting to feel dizzy.

\- Well, that's good to know.

\- But you said I could stay with her! – she complained – 's not that late!

\- What's the problem Alice? – asked the suspect, who had found a way to snuggle close to her again. She covered the phone with her hand with a second and replied.

\- Sorry! My mom's being a pain.

\- Hung up then – he suggested.

\- Don't you dare hung up on me! – interneved Danny.

\- Stoooop mom you always ruin everything!

\- Come on – prompted the guy. She smiled as if being a bad daughter for a night was somewhat amusing – hung up.

\- Bye mommy! – she finished the call giggling.

\- How about we keep dancing?

They made their way to the dance floor again, this time, Annabeth having to cling to the guy a bit because her balance was off. She even tripped a couple of times to put on a good show. They began dancing but the more she moved, the dizzier she was supposed to get and soon she complained to the guy.

\- Maybe I should go home – she stated, also seeming to have second thoughts about the conversation with her "mother". They had needed an excuse for her to want to leave the club so early. They didn't want to raise suspicious because normally people left clubs well into the morning hours, but they weren't going to act for hours before that. Hence the worried parent call. It didn't matter that the suspect was in on the plan, they were taking every precaution possible.

\- You're mom will be fine. One night out won't kill you.

\- But… she'll worry… I'm – she was apparently having trouble finding her words now. The guy rolled his eyes as if exhasperated at having to deal with a mom and dad type of girl.

\- Fine. I can take you home if you want – inside, Annabeth wanted to gag thinking about the ammount of girls who must have fallen for this cheap excuse of a move and gotten themselves in unimaginable danger. On the outside, she gasped and smiled.

\- Could you? 'm not feelin' 'ood – and she stumbled again.

\- Yeah, come on – he guided her to the entrance of the club – my car is parked down the street. It was packed when I got here. Go that way, I'll be with you in a sec – he had a hand on her waist and was gently coaxing her to start walking.

\- Where you goin' – she asked, already walking through the door.

\- Need to grab something inside.

She nodded but kept her clumsy walk towards the street. Inside the club, Kono watched the suspect talk to a bulky guy near the part of the bar she had been sitting nursing her third drink without actually really drinking, and then point in the direction of the entrance. After the bulky guy was gone, Kono hopped of her seat and approached the suspect.

She, too, was acting more happily than necessary when she latched her arm around his and pretended to start a conversation. In reality, she was making sure the guy wouldn't bolt from their sights.

\- Aim's set – she announced through her comm, indicating that the suspect had already signaled Annabeth as tonight's target.

\- We have eyes on her – Danny and Steve had seen Annabeth stumble down the street as if looking for something.

\- I've got movement back here – said Chin – two big local men leaving through the back door heading left.

\- Roger that. Annabeth, look sharp.

She maintained the show of being barely able to walk and she turned in a circle as if remembering she was supposed to wait for someone and thet's when she saw them, the two men coming towards her.

Their suspect had been right. The girls got taken not even a block away from the entrance and both Steve and Danny tensed as they saw the scene unfold not even a mile ahead.

The men had efficiently approached Annabeth and positioned themselves on either side of her. When one of the men put his arm around her waist she had tried to push him off as if noticing what was really happening, but her "weakened" stated wasn't enough to get him away from her. They led her into a van that was conveniently parked nearby and opened the door to unceremoniously throw her in. Because she wasn't unconscious, they used duck tape to secure her hands together in front of her to avoid any attempt at escaping but, otherwise left her untouched. She had tried to protest with her voice but her words were slurred and incoherent. Definitely low and weak.

Once the door of the van had been shut closed and the guys got in the front to drive, Steve looked at Danny to reassure him that everything was going on according to plan.

\- Allright Annabeth. We're right behind you – they didn't receive any answer. From this point on, she wasn't supposed to talk back unless absolutely necessary – everyone, head out! – Steve ordered and he guided the Camaro forward.

Chin had also started his car and came around the club to pick up Kono a few blocks up the street, in the opposite direction the van and the Camaro had taken. She was still clinging to their suspect and acting like they were having the time of their lives and were heading now towards more interesting activities. As soon as they got into the car, the guy found himself handcuffed to the headrest of the seat. A few miles away from the club the exchange with HPD took place and so they were rid of their burden to go after the rest of their team.

So far everything had played out perfectly and they could only hope the rest of the night went by without incident as well.

 **Well… that was fun to write!**

 **Now the true game begins! What will Annabeth find when they take her to wherever she's going? Will she find the girl she's been looking for? Will things go on as planned or will troule arise?**

 **Not sure when I'll have the next chapter ready! If not today, then maybe tomorrow!**

 **Remember to please please please leave a review!**

 **Until next chapter!**


	9. Chapter 9

**And here we have: Chapter 9!**

 **This actually turned out longer than I expected so…surprise for you!**

 **I hope you like this chapter!**

 **Enjoy!**

The "test location" turned out to be a good 30-minute drive to the edge of the city.

Annabeth was inside the van with her hands tied in front of her and she was rocking with the movement of the vehicle. The guys had already taken her purse and her phone, but they otherwise left her alone. She had heard Steve's voice in her ear reassuring her that they were behind her and Danny's subsecuent affirmation of the same once the first 15 minutes of the drive had gone by. She couldn't answer back, but she felt oddly at ease with knowing that her backup wasn't far behind.

It had been a long time since she could count on someone else out in the field while working a mission and to know that there was a couple of people out there genuinely worried about her wellbeing was both a comforting and confusing thought. She tried to catalogue their worry simply as part of their job, the oath they all had taken when joining the police force, but something about the way they had include her into the operation made her think there could something more that just that. They were good people and her first evaluation on their personalities hadn't been wrong. And, suddenly, she found herself wishing she could have more time to get to know them all a little bit more. Sadly, she new, after this was all over, she would have to go back to the pathetic life she had been leading for the past two years.

She knew this wasn't the right time or the situation to be having this depressing thoughts, and she was pulled out of her head when the van finally came to a stop and she barely caught the end of what Steve was saying.

\- … distance away; close to act if you need.

She cursed herself for having zoned out of the moment, reprimanding herself because this kinds of mistake could get her killed at any time. She had to gasp when a sudden feeling of fear hit her because it had been a very, very long time since she had stopped caring whether she lived or died in a mission. To suddenly have that self preservation instinc rush forward again made her question what the hell had gotten into her and whether it had anything to do with the Five-0 team waiting a short distance away to help her if she needed.

Once again she had to focuse her attention on her suroundings when the door of the van was thrusted open and she was roughly pulled out. " _Get it together Annabeth! Concentrate_ " she thought to herself and immediately returned to playing the part of a heavily drugged girl. She forgot about everything else and remembered the mission she had come here to do.

She made the man holding her have to almost drag her inside the two story house they were heading because she kept tripping and almost falling on her face. She looked around the place and noticed the big house was surrounded by miles and miles of green foliage and she suspected there wouldn't be another house near for at least another 15-minute drive.

They finally reached the inside of the house and, although from the outside the place looked old and unkempt, the inside was actually pretty tidy and organized. Where the living room was supposed to be, there was only one couch and a small coffee table to the corner. The rest of the space was occupied by desks and chairs and people sitting on those chairs, typing things in computers and mostly ignoring the two men carrying her as if this situation was nothing out of the ordinary.

She tried to complain numerous times, sounding scared and almost pitiful, but everyone just ignored her. She was led to the first desk and made to stand in front of it. The person sitting behind it (a Hawaiian middle aged man) looked up and studied her for a few seconds before turning his eyes to his computer and started typing only he knew what. The man gave a nod and she was scorted to the next desk where the process was repeated, only this time it was a woman. This went on for for about ten minutes until they had passed all the desks and reached the couch at the corner of te room.

There was a man, clearly the one in charge at least in that room, sitting on the couch and smoking a cigar. He got up when she was made to stand in front of him and she swayed a bit before regaining her balance because her escorts had released her to stand on her own feet. The man from the couch approached her and walked around her, studing her.

\- Good built – he said, exhaling smoke from his cigar and making her cough from it – you look healthy enough. What's your name? – instead of answering the question, she asked one of her own.

\- What is goin' on? – she slurred and, on the other line of her comm, everyone looked at each other in surprise because, even though she was making her speech sound off because of the supposed drug, they could stil notice the change in accent. Danny could even swear that if he didn't know any better, he could have believed he was hearing Rachel speaking – who are you? What am I doin' here?

\- Ohh another british one? Or is it scotish? – the cigar man spoke – I never quite understood the difference – Annabeth's heart did a happy dance because the trick had worked. The man just confirmed there had been at least another british girl here and she could only hope it was the same one she was looking for – I asked what your name was? – he towered over her, undoubtedtly trying to be intimidating, and she had to play along; so, letting out a small whimper she answered.

\- A-Alice.

\- Alice – the man repeated – do you live here or are you on vacation? – she looked at him confused, not understanding the relevance of the question. Apparently she hesitated too long before answering and the man slapped her with the back of his hand. Her head rocked to the side and she fell to the floor with a cry of pain and surprise. She started sobbing. She could hear Danny on the other side asking what had happened as well as everyone else calming him down.

\- Li-live here. I live here – she said trying to calm down.

\- See? That wasn't so hard – he signaled to one of the men to help her from the floor – now, have you ever taken drugs? Before tonight that is – she sniffed and shook with her head – do you know how to cook? Have you ever cleaned a house before? – and now they all understood what was going on. The man was "deciding her future" as Danny had so accurately described back at head quarters.

\- N-No, I don't kn-know – she accentuated her distress a bit – please, I want to go ho-home. Ple-please don't hurt me – she flinched when the man put a hand on her aching cheek.

\- That's up to you. Just do as we say, answer the questions and no one will hurt you – the man sounded mechanical, as if he had said the same thing over a hundred times before – Kaleo! – he called – put her in room three. I think drug testing for now should be good. It's always good to experiment on a clean one – when Kaleo came for her and started driving her away, she started to resist and fight him while begging at the same time.

\- Please! Don't do this! – while she was struggling, her heels came loose and came off her feet, making her trip and falling all the way to the floor again. She was almost hystericaly crying by now and she refused to be taken away by the man. She crawled to one of the desks trying to get away from him and held on to one of the desk's legs and she just barely had time to place the bug well hidden under the top bottom drawer whe she was roughly pulled by her feet – NO! Stop!

But the man didn't, and once he had gotten a hold of her he hit her in the face and kicked her in the stomach. She doubled over on the floor and let her body flag. She knew she couldn't keep fighting back, not because the man would hurt her again, but because any other normal girl would have been left almost unconscious from the treatment, and so she kept still, trying to catch her breath and whimpering with tears running down her face.

On the other side of the line, it was Steve's turn to get tense and worried at hearing the unmistakeable sound of someone hitting Annabeth and her crying afterwards. He was starting to have second thoughts on the plan and he asked her through the comm if she was alright because he couldn't tell how much of what he was hearing was acted or not. He was getting restless when he received no answer even though in the back of his mind he knew he wasn't supposed to get one. In the end, it was Chin's calm tone that managed to talk some sense into him.

\- Relax Steve. She hasn't used the word so let's give her some time.

Annabeth had listened to the whole exchange and she had to admit that hearing the concern in Steve's voice made her feel appreciated but, at the same time, worried because she couldn't afford to have them screwing up the operation out of concern for her. She had thought that, out of the four of them, Danny was most likely the one to succumb to his protective paternal instincts and that's why she had talked to Steve about him earlier. But there was something in Steve's tone of voice that made her question her previous assessment and that left her just a little bit confused because, other than his job as a SEAL and a police officer now, he shouldn't be showing such signs of concern.

She quickly disregarded the thought to ponder on later because she felt a pair of arms wrap around her and lift her off the floor. She was carried up the stairs and through the hallway until they reached what she supposed would be room three. The guy opened the door with some difficulty and after setting her on the ground, pushed her inside until she hit the floor again, gasping by the motion and crying a bit more. She had her eyes open and tears were still running down her cheeks when the door of the room closed and she could hear the man's footsteps walking away.

She immediately sat up and looked around her. There was a total of 7 girls in that room and they were all around her age or a little bit younger. They looked scared and worse for wear but generally in good physical condition. One of the older girls stood up and approached her, sitting down next to her in the middle of the room and helping her untie her hands. Annabeth looked at her gratefully and gave her a small smile.

\- Hello – she greeted, still using her british accent – I'm Alice Johnson. What's your name?

\- Jessi Lee – the girl answered. After a quick order from Steve, Kono searched her laptop to find the girl's missing person report. She was also keeping tabs on the audio coming from the listening device Annabeth had managed to put on the room she had been evaluated.

\- How long have you been here? – Annabeth asked.

\- About three weeks. Are you okay? – the girl asked, signaling to Annabeth's red cheek.

\- I'm okay – she looked at the rest of the girls who weren't so keen into introducing themselves or approaching her – what will they do to us? The man mentioned something about drug testing? – she asked, hoping Jessi could shed some light into what went on in the place.

\- Yeah, every once in a while, they pick some of us and take us to the basement. They try different drugs on us to see the results. If it doesn't kill us, they throw us back here until next time – Annabeth actually had to flinch at hearing this and the way the girl was saying it, as if she had already gotten used to that being her life; and she had only been here three weeks. Now, Annabeth really looked at the girls and what she had taken for malnourishment (which could still be a contributive factor) she now saw as signs of drug use: dark circles under their eyes, the slight trembling of a hand. She felt rage deep inside her and she swore to herself that she would get them all out of this place.

\- Do you know what happens in the other rooms? – the girl shrugged.

\- The other girls don't stay here very long. We're the ones that stay here the most.

\- Have you seen a girl named Emily? Do you know if she's here? She's british and sounds like me – the girl looked at her strangely then. That was an odd question to ask, and the new girl had stopped crying and composed herself way easily than others had.

\- I don't know – she answered slowly. She got the feeling that the new girl was trouble and she didn't want to get beaten because of that, so she started to pull away – well, there's a bathroom over there – was all she said before standing up and going to her previous spot on one of the many mattresses on the floor.

\- Thanks – Annabeth replied, having noticed the change in the girl's demeanor.

She slowly got up and went to inspect the bathroom. There was no door so she couldn't close it to get some privacy, but the mattresses on the room were arranged so that no one would peek inside while another girl was in the bathroom.

She looked at herself in the mirror and saw a bruise starting to form on her cheek bone. She touched it lightly, glad that it didn't hurt that much. She washed her hands and face to erase the tear tracks and then headed outside again. She sat down on the floor near the door and studied the rest of the girls while waiting for the signal to start the next part of the plan.

Asking a few more questions to the girls, she was able to learn two more names and the dayly routine they seemed to have. Every day they would receive three meals at the exact same time but, other than that, they were left completely alone. The drug testing happened three times a week and they got a new girl assigned to this room maybe every week and a half.

With a sickening feeling, she was able to find out that almost one girl always dies during a week of testing and that left everyone angry and worried. How could something like this be happening in the island and no other bodies had been found apart from the one they discovered on Monday? Where were the other ones?

In the end, the team had agreed that they would listen to the conversations on the ground floor in search of the information they were after until next morning and they would give Annabeth the time to find out if Emily, the girl she had been looking for, was indeed in the facility. After that, they were going to assume this was the only "test location" and take down the place.

It was around 2:00 a.m. when she got the go ahead on the plan.

\- All activity seems to have stopped for the night – came Danny's voice through her comm – you should be clear to inspect the place.

She didn't answer back; she just stood up slowly from her spot on the floor and came closer to the door, silently thanking the fact that it wasn't actually locked and started turning the handle ever so slightly until she felt a hand land on her arm.

She turned around and saw Jessi looking at her with fear in her eyes.

 **Does that pass as a cliffhanger? What will Annabeth find when she searched the other rooms? What will the girl, Jessi, do about it? What is the team going to do now?**

 **Stay tuned to know how things unfold from now on! A little bit of action is long over due don't you think?**

 **I hope this chapter was interesting enough and I hope to read your reviews about it! They always motivate me soo much!**

 **Well… until next chapter!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello there my dear readers!**

 **Finally, I'm posting this chapter! It took forever to write and it's not even that long. I actually think it's the shortest of them all but it was so difficult to write that I just felt like I needed to finish it and put it out there.**

 **Something happened to my muse during this chapter because, like I said, it was really hard to write for me and I admit it's not one of my greatests ones.**

 **Either way I hope you enjoy it well enough! I would still like to read your comments about it!**

She quickly closed the door and turned to her.

\- What are you doing? – asked Jessi, surprising Annabeth with the amount of fear in the other girl's eyes – you can't leave the room! – she was hissing as to not wake the other occupants of the room.

\- Why? – Annabeth asked.

\- They'll find out and they'll hurt you _and_ us!

\- Listen Jessi I need to find someone. The girl I talked to you about. I really need you to tell me if you've seen her or heard someone else talk like me – she almost pleaded.

\- What difference does it make? You're here now and you won't be able to escape! We've tried and it's not possible! – Jessi was truly scared by now, tugging on her arm to get her away from the door. Sensing the girl's growing distress, she let herself get further into the room.

\- Okay, okay. Calm down Jessi. Nothing's going to happen to you, but I need to go out there.

\- No, no, no. You can't.

\- You said you tried to escape before? What happened? – she even sat down on the floor, bringing Jessi down with her to calm her nerves and give her the sense that she wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. Maybe she could play this to her advantage. Everyone else was listening, although a little worried because they couldn't afford to waste too much time.

\- Some of us tried the first week I arrived here. We thought we could sneak out at night when everyone was supposed to be asleep but there is always people downstairs, even when there are no lights on. We got caught and they beat us. Told us if we ever tried to leave again they would kill us but they didn't just hit us, they came up and hurt everyone else for letting us leave! – Jessi was now desperately grabbing her arm to the point of making it painful – that's why you can't leave and I can't let you!

\- Alright Jessi please calm down! – she tried – can you tell me what the basement looks like?

\- What?

\- The basement… where they do the drug testing. You've been there right?

\- It's the door between the first desk and the kitchen space. Why?

\- Do you know if it's locked all the time? – Jessi looked at her stragenly again.

\- How could I know that? I don't know!

\- Okay... – Annabeth tried again – all the times they have taken you to the basement; can you remember if when you got to the door, the men used a key to unlock the door or if they just opened it? – Jessi tried to remember.

\- They just open it. They don't use a key. Why do you want to know? Are you still planning on going out there? – she asked, mortified.

\- Listen to me Jessi. I'm here to help you alright? I can get you all out of here but I need to go out there.

\- No! You'll get caught! You'll…

\- I won't get caught. I promise! I know what I'm doing okay? You don't need to worry. You just have to stay here and wait until I come back. Okay?

Although reluctantly, Jessi nodded and Annabeth gave her a wide reassuring smile. She got up from the floor and headed to the door. She gave her one last look before opening the door and sliping outside.

From what Jessi had told her, there shouldn't be anybody on the hallway at night, only on the ground floor, but nevertheless she walked slowly and making sure the coast was clear before proceeding.

She carefully inspected every room, mindfull of not waking any of the girls sleeping in them and she relayed the information through her comm after she was done. There was a total of 32 girls in the facility. And after her first inspection of them, she didn't recognize Emily among them.

She reached the stairs and peeked down, seeing nobody near the bottom and making her way slowly to the ground floor. Just as Jessi had told her, there were about four people. Two of them were sleeping on the uncomfortable looking couch, one was pacing near the front door of the house and the other one could be heard in the kitchen space. The cigar man was nowhere to be seen, as were the whole other lot of people working in the computers earlier when she had arrived.

If she was silent enough, she could make her way to the basement without being seen and, if what Jessi had told her proved to be true, she would find the door unlocked. She waited until the man pacing in front of the door disappeared out of view into one of the corners of the living room before going down the rest of the steps and pressing herself flat on the wall. She used the darkness of the house to her advantage and found her way to the door standing between the first desk and the kitchen.

The man in the kitchen was too busy making a sandwich with the little light provided by his cellphone to notice the shadow moving almost in front of him and just when he turned to the sink to drop the utensils he had used, Annabeth quickly opened and closed the door to the basement, sliping inside without anybody noticing anything.

Since finding out that the drug testing took place in the basement, she had gotten the idea of finding any kind of drug that would help her knock out the men posing as guards around the house so she could get inside the computers on the living room and try to find the information that they still needed to sort out before raiding the house. The conversations the bug had caught before hadn't been enough to determine the existence of other "test locations" and, since she couldn't find Emily on any of the rooms above, she needed to find the records she was sure the organization had.

Feeling her way into the basement while her eyes adjusted to the poor excuse of a light that came through the small window, she saw a cabinet filled with different vials. Some of them didn't have names but numbers instead. She supposed those were the drugs on the testing phase, because the ones that did have a tag with names on it, were well known drugs and there was everything from morphine to diazepam. She found a vial that would work perfectly taking people down quickly and efficiently and put it inside one of the pockets of her skirt. All she needed now was a syringe.

She was making her way to where she could make out the rest of the medical supplies when she heard the door of the basement being opened and the light turned on.

\- Shit! – she cursed under her breath at the sudden brightness while diving underneath one of the cots in the room. Hearing her curse, immediately the questions started flying inside her ear.

\- Are you okay? – Kono's voice.

\- What happened? – Danny.

\- Can you talk? – Steve.

She ignored them all and focused on the pair of legs making their way down the stairs and into the basement. She didn't think she had been discovered, or there would at least be another person coming down and they would be in a hurry. Instead, this guy's pace was slow and careless. He approached the drug cabinet she had been standing on only a few seconds ago and reached to grab one of the morphine vials. " _Great, a junkie_ " Annabeth thought and relaxed a little bit when the man didn't notice anything else missing from the cabinet. She silently urged him to take the vial and go back upstairs, but no such luck.

She debated into waiting for the guy to leave or just taking him out right then and there, deciding that she couldn't keep wasting time and making her way from underneath the cot she had been hiding and walking in a small crouch toward him. The guy had his back towards her while searching for a needle to fix himself with the drug and that's when she jumped into action. She took the man into a choke hold from behind, passing her right arm around his neck and locking it in place with her other one. He was bigger than her, that was a given, but the strength and technique behind the hold gave the man little to no chance and barely after a minute and a half, the man was lying unconscious at her feet. Very well, one down, three to go.

She picked the needle the guy had been about to use and filled it with the drug she herself had chosen from the cabinet. She figured half of it would put down a grown man, so she could use the full vial to knock out two. She was going to have to figure out a way to deal with the other one. She needed access to those computers.

Eventualy she told the team to stand down and that nothing had happened, that she was on her way to gather the needed information, and so she crept her way up the stairs of the basement and prepared to go out again.

The junkie man turned out to be the pacing one from the living room, and the one from the kitchen was about to finish his food. Annabeth was trying to decide the best way to take him out when the man suddenly produced a pack of cigarrets from his pocket and headed towards the front door. He even passed right by her peeking through the barely opened basement door, but he didn't even notice. He reached the door and stepped outside, lighting his first cigarret before leaving the house completely.

Annabeth smiled, surely she couldn't be that lucky.

She opened the door the rest of the way and crept towards the two men sleeping on the couch. One was snoring softly and the other one was almost falling to the floor from the uncomfortable position. She decided to strike that one first and quickly inserted the needle into his exposed neck, pressing down with her finger until half the liquid was gone. She had put her free hand on top of his mouth to keep him from making any sound, and tried to still his movements with her legs because he had stirred for a moment when feeling the pain from the needle. A few seconds later though, the man was out like a lamp and the other one hadn't stirred in his sleep.

She repeated the process with the second man, amazed at how he never even mumbled from the touch of the needle and pleased that she now had the coast toally cleared to go check the information on the computers. She only needed to keep an eye out for the man smoking outside, but she hoped he would smoke at least a couple of cigarrets before coming back inside.

Reaching the first computer, she turned it on and waited until she could get access to the files, suddenly wishing with all her might that the thing wasn't protected with a password. She really hadn't thought of that possibility but now it was too late to think of another plan. She only had so much time before one of the man figured out what had happened, whether it was the one from the basement waking up from the choke hold, or the one smoking the cigarrets outside, she needed to act quickly and find that information.

If they raided this house without confirmation of the existence of other locations, they faced the risk of word getting on the wind that Five-0 had discovered this place and they would lose the chance of maybe getting to the center of the whole organization. This information was crucial and it depended on her getting her hands into it.

No pressure. She thought.

The light on the screen turned on and focused her eyes on the small rectangle in the middle of it.

 **Like I said… not my finest work :(**

 **I know you guys must be missing the rest of the team from the last couple of chapters but I needed to narrate the way Annabet was going to get her way around the house… don't worry… the main theme of this story is still the fact that Annabeth and Steve are related and how will they deal with it. This case is just the way Annabeth proves herself worthy to the team.**

 **So, keep expecting some Steve angst later on… that never disappoints!**

 **I hope to read reviews! Pretty, pretty please!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Finally, my muse came back from vacation and I was able to write this chapter in only one try!**

 **We will get the action we've all been waiting for and see te beginning of how this case gets solved!**

 **Aquababy58: thank you so much for your kind words about last chapter! Even though it isn't one of my favorites, I'm glad you liked it!**

 **Now, I don't want to keep boring you with my talking so… here it goes!**

 **Enjoy!**

Chin saw the headlights before anyone else did, and just after a few seconds of noticing, the sound of an approaching car reached his ears.

\- Kono… - he said, and pointed in the direction of the approaching vehicle. They were stationed way out of the main road to be noticed by the arriving party, so they weren't worried about getting spoted. They worried about what could have happened to draw people to the house at this hour.

\- Emmm Boss? We have a vehicle making its way to the house through the main road. Black SUV. Don't know how much people inside though – Kono reported.

\- Copy that – was the reply – Annabeth, you're about to have company.

Steve and Danny were the ones with a direct view of the house and they had been keeping an eye on the guy smoking the cigarrets a few paces away from the door. They could see the guy startle when the SUV reached the house as if it wasn't supposed to be there.

Danny looked at Steve with questioning eyes, something was going on and they didn't know how safe Annabeth was at the house right now. The last thing they had heard was that she was going to search come computers for the information they were looking for but they had no idea if that left her in a vulnerable position or if she was going to be quick enough to hide when all the men getting out of the car entered the house.

Annabeth had heard the warning and later the sound of a vehicle pulling up in front of the house. She didn't have time to get back upstairs or turn off the computer she was currently using because the door was swung open and all she could do was dive underneath the desk right next to the wone she had been standing behind.

\- Akoni! What's going on? You're not supposed to be here until morning – said the guy who had been smoking outside and they could all hear the conversation through the bug Annabeth had planted earlier.

\- Kaholo's been arrested. We don't know if he's talked already but the club has been compromised – answered the man they presumed was Akoni.

\- What? So what are we going to do now?

\- The boss hasn't decided yet, he wants us to prepare everything to leave just in case – he walked to the couch where two of the guards were still sleeping and tried to wake them up.

\- Hey! Wake up already we have work to do! – but the men didn't stir, not even when they were slapped on the face – What the hell? What's wrong with them?

\- I… I don't know – said the guy of the cigarrets and then he looked at one of the desks with a confused expression on his face – did you turn on the computer? They were all off when I stepped outside – " _Damn_ " Annabeth thought, things were falling apart right before her eyes. Akoni and another man walked to the computer and Annabeth was grateful that no one had turned on the light of the house yet because that way, they would have definitely seen her by now hiding underneath the next desk.

\- Somebody's been looking at the files. Where is Kael? – at that exact moment, a man came stumbling out of the basement door holding the frame for support and surprised to see so many people inside the house.

\- There's someone here – he gasped, still dizzy from the lack of oxygen to his brain – I was attacked in the basement.

\- Are you sure you're not just drugged to the eyeballs? – mocked one of the men.

\- No! I was choked from behind! I'm telling you, there's someone in the house! – Annabeth refrained from cursing out loud. What a way to prove she could do the job! Everyone had found out there was someone poking their way around the house and searching their computers. Immediately, almost every man in the room took out a weapon.

\- You two, search upstairs. You two, the basement and you three, go outside and look for anything out of place.

All of them did as asked, leaving Akoni alone in the living room.

Annabeth knew she had to act now that they were divided and slowly made her way from underneath the next desk, intent on making the same move against Akoni that she had made against the man in the basement. She crept up from behind and locked her arms around his neck, choking him and making him fall to the floor unconscious.

She didn't waste time and turned to run up the stairs; now her priority was to go back to the room so no one would hurt Jessi or any of the other girls because she wasn't in the room where had been supposed to stay all night.

When she reached the top floor she saw the door of the second room opened and one of the men that had been sent upstair yelling to wake up the girls. She quickly passed it and reach the door of room three, not thinking before yanking the door open and stepping inside. The second she turned around to face the occupants of the room, she came face to face with the second man who had heard the door open behind him.

\- What the hell are you doing out of the room? – asked the angry man taking a menacing step in her direction. She took one back and put on a mask of fear before answering. She also glanced behind the guy and saw Jessi and a few other girls who had already been awakened by the commotion.

\- I was looking for a bathroom – she said in a small voice. She knew it was a poor excuse, considering the room _had_ its own bathroom, but she was acting as quickly as possible. What she received was another slap to the face for her trouble. She stumbled but didn't fall. The girls inside the room gasped but otherwise stayed far behind the man.

\- You stupid girl there's a bathroom right here! Now, what were you doing out?

\- I swear I needed the bathroom badly and there was another girl inside and I just couldn't wait and I went looking for another one. I swear! – her british accent was only accentuated by the fast way she was speaking, trying to convince the man in front of her.

\- You're coming down with me – stated the man while taking a strong hold of her arm and guiding he towards the door of the room. She could hear Steve and Danny saying that it was enough and that they should go in now, but she still had another shot at this.

\- No! Wait! – it sounded like she was pleading her captor, but instead she was telling the team to give her more time. She also looked at Jessi right before being dragged out of the room and gave her what she hoped was a reassuring nod.

She got dragged unceremoniously down the stairs and pushed to the middle of the living room, where the men assigned to search the basement were helping an already waking Akoni from the floor.

\- This one was out of her room – the man informed the others – it was the only thing out of place – by now, the other guy from upstairs and the ones that had been searching the perimeter had come back into the house.

\- Did you use the computers down here? – asked Akoni.

\- What? No!

\- Don't lie to me! Did you do something to my men there? – he asked, pointing at the still unconscious men on the couch.

\- I haven't done anything! I told him I need to use a bathroom!

\- Well, it's no coincidence the same night Kaholo gets arrested, you get here and four of us get attacked and our files opened. So, who did you bring with you and what were you really looking for? – Annabeth considered her answer. If she played this well enough, she could still get the job done right.

\- I'm looking for a girl – she decided to tell the truth. She heard the protest and questions in her ear from the team but she couldn't very well explain them her plan right now – her name is Emily and she's british. I need to know what you've done with her – the men looked at her surprised to learn that the girl had indeed an agenda and that it was no coincidence that she had arrived there. Akoni stared at her as if deciding what to do now.

\- Did you bring the police with you? – he asked, fairly calm.

\- No. I just went through the computers.

\- Then who the hell attacked us? – and here came the part she both liked and hated about her job: no one ever believed she was capable of fighting and taking down men twice her size.

\- I just want to know where the girl is. No one else has to know about any of this because I won't tell a soul and much less the police. We don't get along too greatly either – Akoni couldn't believe the way this girl was talking.

\- You want to know where the girl is? Well, I'll give you a clue: if she's not here she's either dead or already working for someone else – Annabeth looked at him with a conused expression.

\- You mean there's no other house like this on the island where she could be? – Akoni was starting to lose his cool.

\- What are you, deaf?! Your friend's most likely dead and, if not, she's already been sold. There's no other option – hearing that, she smiled. She got the information she wanted – and I don't take lightly people coming to stick their noses into our business, no matter how young you are so… - and he produced a gun, pointing it directly at her.

\- You know what? – she started, getting ready to act – eight men with guns against only one girl doesn't seem very fair to me. And just thinking about such odds makes me have the craziest of cravings for that thing you guys sell on the islands… malasadas right? I tried them the other day and they're to die for.

\- What the hell are you talking about? – Akoni was getting fed up with this girl's antics. Inside her comm, she heard Steve.

\- Alright you heard her, we've got eight armed hostiles. Take position, we're going in.

\- You know, haven't you ever heard that people get the craziest of cravings when they're about to die? So, what are you all craving right now?

\- Shut up! – screamed Akoni and just as he was raising the gun higher, she lashed out with her leg and kicked it away from his hands.

At the exact same time, the front door was pushed open and several people stepped inside. Annabeth used the distraction to elbow the man that had dragged her down the stairs and that still had a hold of one of her arms in the face, braking his nose and making him release her. She crouched down and kicked another man's legs from underneath him, sending him crushing to the ground.

She jumped up and punched Akoni in the face, subsecuently kneeing him in the stomach and then dropping down when the first shots began to sound.

Once through the door, Steve, Danny, Kono and Chin spread around the living room, taking down the men closest to the door and starting to ziptie their hands behind their backs. Only the pair further into the room had reacted to use their guns but only managed a shot or two before they were taken down with equal force. The remaining three men had already been taken down by Annabeth by the time Steve made his way towards where she was crouching on the floor protecting herself from the few gunshots exchanged.

\- Are you okay? – Steve asked her while kneeling down beside her. In that moment she couldn't answer. Her throat had constricted painfully and her heart was hammering inside her chest. She looked into his worried eyes and all she saw around her was the events of the day she had been rescued from Sho Wun. Steve had inadvertedly triggered the flashback when kneeling beside her, dressed in all tactical gear and asking her if she was alright. Receiving no answer, he tried asking again, but her mind was already miles away.

 **H50H50H50H50H50H50H50H50H50H50H50**

 **Well… you can see there's a flashback coming in the next chapter! I was thinking on putting into this chapter but the moment she was rescued is so important in both Steve's and Annabeth's lives that I thought it deserved a chapter of its own…**

 **I know you guys want to know the details of the rescue (since all I've given so far was details about** ** _after_** **the rescue) so I decided to give you a full inside view of what had happened! I hope you'll like it**

 **But, speaking of this chapter, what did you think of it? Did you like it? What about the way Annabeth's first plan tumbled down to be replaced by another one in the spur of the moment?**

 **I'd love to hear your comments! And finally we got the team thrown into the mix again, even if it was just for a moment at the end!**

 **Until next chapter! I hope I can do it justice!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Here's chapter 12!**

 **A little warning: it's a little depressing, but necessary for you to understand a little bit better Annabeth's background and current attitude.**

 **I hope I did the rescue scene justice and that it satisfies your wish to know what exactly went down on the rescue and under what exact circumstances did Annabeth and Steve first met.**

 **Enjoy…**

\- _Are you okay? – asked the first man that approached her – can you move?_

 _She was speechless. She could see that the people coming into her room were some kind of military men but it was imposible. No one knew they were there._

 _She had woken up from her slumber by the sound of gunshots being fired somewhere outside her room, a room that had become their prison for at least a week; or it could be more, she just wasn't sure anymore. She had looked down at the body she had been holding and over which she had started to fall asleep due to exhaustion: Alex's body._

 _Tears had immediately come to her eyes again and she started sobbing, she could feel the pressure of her pain pressing down on her chest threatening with cutting out her air circulation for good. Not that she would have complained, she wished the pain would just take her away and be done with her. That way she could still be with him wherever souls went after they died._

 _She had been startled again by the door to the room being almost blown to pieces and two men dressed in military issued uniforms entered. One had stayed at the door while the other had come closer to her, checking Alex's neck for a pulse and then asking her the question._

\- _Huh? – was all she managed to say. The man looked at her with something between anger and surprise before speaking again while checking her for injuries._

\- _I'm Lt. Commander Steve McGarrett. We're getting you out of here. Are you hurt? Can you move?_

\- _Dog! We need to get out of here now! – yelled the man at the door while more gunfire could be heard from outside._

\- _Listen, we have to move! – repeated the man, McGarrett, since she wasn't making any effort of her own. When he reached her arm to grab it and help her stand, she shrieked and leaned back. Her arm was broken and any contact made it incredibly painful – Jesus! Do you have any other injury?_

\- _Le-leg – she stuttered. He looked down and saw what appeared to be a knife wound. It wasn't bleeding, which led him to believe that it had been made several days ago. He looked at her again and asked himself what the hell had happened to these kids? He glanced at the body of the young boy, disgusted to see so many bullet wounds in him and had to swallow down the bile that had risen up his throat._

\- _Okay, okay… - he said, trying to come up with a way to move the girl without hurting her further – I'm gonna carry you, okay? – he turned then to his teammate – Fox! We'll need cover fire to get out! I won't be able to shoot!_

\- _Roger that! – McGarret leaned down and put his arms underneath the back of her knees and her back to lift her up._

\- _NO! NO! Let me go! – she suddenly screamed trying to get away from him._

\- _It's okay! I'm not gonna hurt you, I'm gonna get you out of here – he tried to approach her again but she hit him with what little force she still had and clutched the boy's body with all her might._

\- _I can't leave him! – she yelled, pressing her face against the boy's chest and sarting to sob almost uncontrollably._

\- _Listen! We have to get out of here! I can't carry you both and if Fox does it, we'll have no protection fire. I'm sorry but we have to leave him – he hated what they had to do; given his way, he would have the boy's body returned to his country but right now the primary mission was to get the girl out alive and they were outnumbered. He couldn't let a body be a liability where the lives of his men were concerned, as well as the rest of the mission. He reached for the girl again._

\- _NO! Please! Please! I can't leave him! – she was crying terribly now, holding to the boy's clothes for dear life and possibly making her injuries worse, but she didn't seem to acknowledge the pain right now. Steve turned to the door when the sounds of the battle taking place outside became nearer and nearer and one other shout from his teammate told him everything he needed to know. It was either getting out now, or not getting out at all. He regreted what he needed to do, but he sobered up and pushed all feelings aside: he grabbed the girl, putting his arms around her middle and pulling her up tomwards him. He couldn't decide if the scream that came out of her was from pain or protest, because he had felt several of her ribs shift when he had moved her. She tried to fight him, struggled into the hold he had of her but she was too weak and injuried to do much more than upset a little bit his balance – ALEX! No! Put… me… down! Leave me… here! ALEX! – Steve just played deaf. It was the only way._

\- _Alright! Let's go! – he told Fox, and together they made their way through the hallway._

 _The rest of his team had managed to clear the exit route but were still under heavy fire. He could see that one of them had been hit but he was still up and firing back, so the wound couldn't be too serious. At least, he hoped so._

 _The girl in his arms was still trying to get free and tears were running freely down her cheeks although she had stopped shouting. Now, all he could hear coming from her was the sound of heavy breathing and small whimpers of pain. He knew the hold he had on her must have been hurting her and once they reached a corner, he set her down on the floor to relieve the pressure from her ribs. She clunged into one of his arms for support because she couldn't put a lot of weight into her injured leg, but stifled a groan when she applied force with her broken arm._

 _Her eyes were still glued to the end of the way they had just come, unable to believe that she was leaving him behind. The pain coming from her body was nothing compared to the one tearing her heart apart and she tried to get rid of the man holding her to go back to him because she couldn't possibly live without him._

 _Sensing her movements, Steve held on to her a little tighter and looked at her to tell her again that they needed to move but the pain he saw reflected in those young eyes made his heart hammer in his chest. She was just a kid for crying out loud! How could anyone hurt her like this? Once they had stepped out of that dark room, he had been able to see the evidence of some of the damage inflicted upon her: she had bruises all over her body, her lips were split in diferent places, there had a wound on her temple, one of her arms was broken, her ribs were definitely compromised, she had the knife wound in her leg and he could see finger marks on her neck. But seeing the desperation in her eyes he knew that she wasn't hurting as much from the physical injuries than from having to leave the boy behind._

 _He was snapped out of his thoughts by his team, giving him the green light to run towards their escape vehicle, and he adjusted his hold of the girl. This time, he was able to carry her bridal style because all energy seemed to have left her body in the last couple of seconds and she had stopped struggling against him. So he took her and ran behind the cover fire of his men towards the vehicle. Once he secured the girl inside, he had taken his weapon and provided cover for the rest of his team to make it back towards him. Eventualy they all did, and sooner rather than later they were on their way to the pickup location where a helicopter would be waiting for them to arrive with their cargo._

 _Once in the helicopter, the member of the team with the greatest medical knowledge did a preliminary check of the girl, using what little supplies he had to splint the girl's arm and tie a bandage on her leg._

 _Annabeth had been conscious throughout the whole escape and although she would have wanted to keep fighting, she just simply had no more energy. There came a point where all physical pain had been numbed by her exhaustion; it was as if her body had been turned off. But the one thing she couldn't turn off was her mind, which was screaming insde her head to just drop dead at that moment because she had left him behind. They had killed him… He had killed him, right there in front of her, and she had been left with his body to try and think about how she would continue to live if he was no longer with her._

 _There were no words to describe the terrible heartbreaking pain she had felt when the last shot directly to the head had been fired, but having to actually leave him behind, in that hell of a place where not only their bodies but their minds had been terrorized until almost the point of no return was just too much for her._

 _She had failed him. They were both alone in the world and had only eachother to count on, and she had let him down. She wasn't able to protect, save or even bring home the body of the person she loved the most in the entire world, and the sorrow was eating her alive. She didn't see the point in these men rescuing her and getting her out of the place if he wasn't there with her as well._

 _And as she lost her battle against the dark, right when they were about to reach the base, she whispered the words that carried the only thing she desired most in the world right now. And those were three words that Lt. Commander Steve McGarrett would never forget._

\- _Please… kill me…_

 **H50H50H50H50H50H50H50H50H50H50**

 **Aaaaaand, end of the flashback…**

 **Well… there you have it! What did you think about it?**

 **And how will Annabeth react now that the flashback is over and she has all those memories fresh inside her mind?**

 **Will she use the cold defensive attitude or will the team finally see a bit of emotion from her?**

 **I guess we'll have to wait and see… remember to leave a review if you're so kind! I would love to see what you guys thought of this chapter…**

 **Until next chapter!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Good afternoon dear readers of mine! Because I am so, so, so, soooo happy today…. I'm gonna post this chapter! I wrote it in like two hours! I hope you like it!**

 **I decided to experiment a little bit at the end with a way to write a little bit… let's see if I got the desired effect!**

 **Stephanie** **: thank you sooo much for your reviews on the last chapter. Two reviews for the same chapter? Amazing! You also touched my heart with your words! You have no idea what it means to me the way that you enjoy my stories! I hope I can continue to give you good reading moments and mini videos in your head! I hope to read a review for this chapter!**

 **Aquababy58** **: as always, thank you so much for being a constant in my stories! Your reviews are always the highlight of my days! I love the fact that you liked last chapter and the insight into the story behind Annabeth and Steve meeting for the first time.**

 **Well… now that's you've all read what happened in the last chapter, you can now understand a little bit more the attitude Annabeth has been displaying since the beginning of this story. She was defending herself from the memories and, in this new chapter, we'll lear a little bit more about her emotional state since that dreadful day.**

 **Also… for those of you who read "Unexpected Events", now you get her reaction to Sho Wun and why she killed him the way she did? I know I haven't finished that story yet but I promise I will!**

 **Anyway…. On with the story… here's chapter 13! ENJOY!**

\- Are you okay? – Steve repeated, finally bringing Annabeth out of her flashback. Not that he knew she was having one.

\- Yeah, yeah. I'm fine – she got up from the floor and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

\- All of them are down – said Danny who was making his way towards them – you said there were only eight. Are you sure?

\- Yes, I'm sure. The only ones left upstairs are the girls… - she trailed off, looking at the ceiling – I'm going up.

And she took off almost running up the stairs. Steve sent Kono up with her and several other HPD officers to start the process of getting the girls out and bringing them back to their homes where they belonged.

All the doors were open and she could see the girls cowering in small groups as far away from the doors as possible. Kono entered the first one, some HPD officers covered the rest and she went straight to the third one. She reached for the light swich and turned it on, several girls stifled cries of surprise, and she focused her eyes on Jessi. She gave her a reassuring smile and stepped closer to her.

\- I told you everything was going to be okay – she announced.

\- What do you mean? – then Jessi's eyes focused on the police officers now entering her room and relief threatened to overwhelm her and everyone else.

\- Help's here. You're all going home – several girls started crying with happy tears and Jessi came closer to her.

\- How did you…?

\- I wouldn't have been able to do it without you. You helped me by giving me information of how the place was run at night and where to go when I needed to get to the basement. So, thank you – Jessi just sared at her for a few seconds, trying to process what she had been told, before putting her arms around Annabeth and hugging her with all her might.

\- Thank you! Thank you so much! – she started sobbing, and Annabeth gave her as much comfort as she could.

\- You'll be okay now. Let's go with the officers, they'll know what to do.

Slowly, and with the help of every available person, they got the girls out of their rooms and into police cruisers to be taken to the station where they were going to be identified and their families contacted.

Almost all the girls were local, but there were a few that had been brought in from other countries, including England. Emily, though, really hadn't been upon them.

\- We'll take the computers back to headquarters and find out where they sent her – Chin assured her.

It was almost 4:00 a.m. by the time the scene had been completely cleared and there was no one else to be dealt with at the house. The criminals that were still alive had been arrested, including Akoni, who had attempted to attack Annabeth on his way out of the house, insulting her for breaking his nose and bringing down their operation. He didn't get very far though; one round kick from her, and the man was left unconscious.

Eventualy, Steve called the night off. They needed to get at least a few hours of sleep before going into the office in the morning to go through the confiscated computers. And so Chin and Kono got into their car and Steve, Danny and Annabeth walked towards the Camaro.

\- Are you okay? – asked Danny, signaling the bruise that had already formed on her cheek from being slapped in the same spot repeatedly.

\- Yeah. I'm okay – she answered, in perfect American accent.

\- How do you do that by the way? – he asked, while getting into the passenger seat.

\- Do what?

\- Change your accent like that… and why do it?

\- I _am_ actually from London. I just learned to mask the accent whenever I'm in the U.S – was her reply.

\- Why did you start speaking like that only when you went into the house? – asked Steve, who had already turned on the engine and was setting the course to his house. It was too late and Danny would waste too much time droping them at his house first and then leaving to get to his own, so they would all stay with him.

\- I figured if he made the conection he could slip off information without realizing it. He at least confirmed that there had been another british girl.

\- Clever – Danny said, a little bit surprised.

\- Why the tone of surprise? I told you I was good at what I did – she said with a teasing smile. Steve laughed a bit at the expression on his partner's face. Recognition wasn't something that came easily for him.

\- Yeah… well… they were valid, alright? My doubts were valid! – he protested, seeing the look of amusement on the other two – whatever…

\- You were good in there – Steve said, sobering up – have you ever thought of leaving whatever agency you work for and join a team?

\- What? – asked Danny and Annabeth at the same time.

\- You know… leave the spy stuff behind. Maybe settle in with a government organization. You are a U.S. Government asset after all.

 _"_ _Where had that question come from_?" The three of them though. Yeah… including Steve.

He had gotten the idea inside his head after seeing the team work so well with Annabeth the day before trying to set up this whole operation, that maybe she would be a good fit for the team. Today's events only served to prove his point. She had managed an undercover operation like a professional and together they were able to bring down the criminal organization that had been tearing young girls lives apart. Of course they still had to tie a few ends but they had the information now; they had the computers, they had witnesses, they had suspects in custody. That was more than they had two days ago and maybe none of it would have happened if Annabeth hadn't been there and volunteered as bait.

Danny was almost certain of what his partner had been implying with the question and, not for the first time, did he wonder what was it about this girl that made Steve take such sudden decisions. Easily agreeing to the demands of a cocky girl? Sharing the information of the case? Letting her go undercover on a mission? And now what? Invite her to join the task force? He had to admit, now, that there was very little doubt about the girl's skills and that se could handle herself in dangerous situations. And that wasn't even what was bothering him about all this… it was the strange way his partner had been acting since finding her in the club. He was no McGarrett expert, yet, but he was pretty sure there was a story behind it all and it was something that was making his partner act almost… desperately.

Annabeth? She was actually considering what had been said.

In reality, she had never thought about what her life would be after Alex had been killed in that mission. She had gone back to the agency because it was all she knew and all she had. What was she supposed to do? Go back to high school and pretend to be a normal kid? With no parents, no other family to look after her and with everything she had seen and done in the field. There was no other way. The only one that could provide her with a way to earn her living was the agency, and so she continued to work for them until the day she turned eighteen and could collect the fund his parents had left for her. It wasn't much, but enough to get her started someplace else.

During those couple of years between Alex's death and her turning eighteen (which hadn't been so long ago, barely two months), she had changed. She had overcome her loss but she turned into a cold person. It's not like she didn't care for others… she just didn't care about herself anymore; and although she did everything she could to complete the few missions they assigned her (because she would never let innocent people die because of her) she stopped doing everything in her power to come back from them alive. If the mission was completed and she got caught, she wouldn't fight back. That attitude became a liability to the agency and the day she became off age, they cut all ties with her. Allowed her to collect the money her parents had left her and just let her go.

Having her friend ask for her help into finding his kidnapped cousin had been a temporary fix of the problem she now had to face… the big question… _now what_?

She hadn't finished high school. How could she? She had spent more time working on a mission than going to class and eventualy it had cost her. She had postponed taking the decision of what to do with her life from now on because she had been in the chase of the missing girl. She was just one step away from finding her and… _now what_?

What Steve was saying was true. She was a valued U.S. Government asset because of her previous involvement in several sensitive missions and she could turn to them for help. Maybe find a job where her abilities could be put to good use. The problem was: she didn't trust the Government. Not just this one but any Government. God knew how much her own Government had caused her and it was a matter of pride for her not to go begging for help where she knew she would just get exploited anyway.

So no… she hadn't thought about joining any team or organization. But, why ask something like that? Was he implying she should work with them, Five-0? Why did he insist on helping her?

She realized she had gone several minutes without answering when they parked at the front of Steve's house.

\- Not really… - was all she said before stepping out of the car and walking towards the house. She waited until he unlocked the door and then excused herself – if you don't mind, I'd like to get some rest now. It's been a long night – her tone was polite and gentle, totally unlike anything she had ever sound like since they had met her the other night.

\- Sure – Steve replied. He guessed the conversation wasn't going to go anywhere that night.

Or so he thought…

\- What are you thinking? – asked Danny in a low voice once Annabeth had disappeared inside the guest room.

\- What do you mean?

\- One undercover operation gone well and you want her to join Five-0?

\- It was just a question Danny. Where did you get that idea from?

\- Just a question? Might as well be an open invitation!

\- I thought you said you didn't _not_ like her.

\- I don't _not_ like her. She's good, I'll give her that. So you do want her to join?

\- What would be the problem with that?

\- Well, the Governor would have to approve. And it would be a little weird. Not many people would agree.

\- She has already agreed to a Navy SEAL, a haole, an allegedly corrupt cop and a rookie. What difference does a teenage spy make?

\- Well… you have a point there. What is it about her though?

\- What do you mean?

\- I know that you've met her before and that it was under… difficult circumstances. But don't you think you're acting a little bit _not_ like your usual self?

\- You're imagining things.

\- No, I'm not. You've never been one to cave under anyone's demands and out of nowhere she sets the terms of her collaborating with us and you immediately agree? That's not like your usual self. You, mister control freak, would never have relinquished the control of the operation to anyone else and suddenly she sets the plan and goes undercover to do it? Not like your usual self. You…

\- Alright, I got it, I got it.

\- See? Not like your usual self.

\- What do you want me to say? I lead this team and I think she would be a good fit for it; that's all.

\- Are you sure that's all?

\- Yes Danny! That's all there is. Now, quit your moaning and go to sleep. Better yet, let _me_ sleep.

Danny just rolled his eyes at him and collapsed on the couch. He knew there was something up with his partner but he wasn't sure he could get to the bottom of it, and much less tonight. So he just took off his shoes and settled to get at least a coulpe of hours of sleep before having to return to the office in the morning.

Steve hadn't been kidding when he had said his partner had good instincts. Only he would pick up on his intentions so quickly. Or was it really a totally crazy idea?

Annabeth hadn't even offered a real answer. She had all but vanished into the guest room the second he had opened his mouth to say something else about the matter.

Maybe the timing could have been better, but he actually didn't think this was a bad idea. Working in a team was a thousand times better than working alone, and her having no one else out there made it a good reason for her to accept.

Of course, it gave him the opportunity to get to know her better and not let her disappear. The first time it had been his fault. He wasn't going to let that happen again.

He still needed to figure out how to tell her the truth about them but, for the time being, he was going to set his mind into making her agree to be a new member of the team.

She had to say yes. If not… he didn't want to deal with that possibility yet.

 **Weeeeellll? Did you like it?**

 **Personally I really liked this chapter because we get to see a little bit of what the "three-way-partnership" between Steve, Danny and Annabeth will be in the future by that little bit of conversation they had in the car. Specially when they were teasing Danny a bit.**

 **Secondly, I did that little experiment in which Danny and Steve just throwed questions and answers at each other with out me (the writer) say anything in between to explain they actions, expresions or intensions… I think we all know them well enough to imagine what the conversation would have looked like. It was something between their usual bickering and them talking about a serious subject. Steve having difficulty admitting or expressing his feeling and Danny being the great detective that he is and knowing that there's something more behind Steve's words.**

 **Overall, I think I achieved what I wanted with the chapter…. Although that will only be true if you guys liked it! So… review? Please!?**

 **I hope you all have a wonderful day…. And see you on the next chapter!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hello there my readers! I know it's been a few days since I last posted a chapter but I've been quite busy lately and also having a bit of trouble deciding where to guide the story. I eventually came up with this chapter that I hope will be up to your expectations.**

 **I hope you like it and, above all, enjoy it!**

 **H50H50H50H50H50H50H50H50H50H50H50**

 _She opened her eyes slowly, blinking several times even though the lights in the room she was in were dimmed to a minimal._

 _For a moment she thought she was back inside that dark hell hole, but the relatively soft mattress she was lying on made her recall the events of the previous… hour? …day? Or… days? She remembered the group of men entering the room and the torturous walk through the place to get to a vehicle, but the details were extremely blurry._

 _She supposed she was in some kind of sickbay; there were other cots around her but only a few those were occupied. Hers was at the farthest corner of the place and she could see everything from her position. She guessed she should be thankful for that although, truthfully, she didn't care anymore; anyone could walk right in and kill her right now. That was fine with her._

 _Speaking of, a doctor made his way into the sickbay accompanied by a younger man. He was tall and walked with a strong pace. He was also the man that had gotten her out of that place. They were talking while making their way to her cot and just when they were a few feet away, the young man's eyes and hers connected and he nudged the doctor in surprise._

\- _You're awake! – the doctor exclaimed while walking faster towards her. She couldn't help it but flinch when the man reached the cot and raised his hand to one of the monitors controlling her vitals. If either man noticed, they didn't say anything about it – my name is Lt. Walker, i'm the doctor of this base. Do you feel any pain? Do you remember how you got here? Can you tell me your name? – she didn't answer to any of his questions immediately; she was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that she was no longer a prisoner. Well, not_ his _prisoner. The young man and the doctor looked at each other at the lack of response from her, and she attempted to rise from the bed but, just then, every injury she had suffered came back to the surface and assaulted her with great force, making her groan and drop back into the matress – careful, don't try to move yet. You've been trhough a major surgery and you're not out of the woods yet. Just take it easy. Would you like some water? – she slowly nodded and the doctor turned to the other man – Commander? – he asked, signaling to a few bottles of water near him._

\- _Sure – he answered and grabbed one, passing it to the doctor. His eyes locked then on hers while she took a few sips._

\- _Do you think you can tell us your name? – asked the doctor again. She looked at him, thinking about her answer. Should she tell them the truth or should she lie? Who were they and why had they rescued her? They were certantly not English, so she didn't think the agency had sent them to rescue her. The CIA maybe?_

\- _W-who are you? – she asked with a shaky voice. She tried to sound neutral, but her voice betrayed her inner turmoil._

\- _I'm Lt. Walker and this is Commander McGarrett. His team saved you and brought you here. We're on a U.S military base._

\- _You're from the Army?_

\- _The Navy – said the doctor – do you think you could tell us your name?_

\- _Annabeth – she said after almost a full minute._

\- _Well, Annabeth. I have to say, you're a very lucky girl. These guys found you just in time and we were barely able to get you through the surgery, but I'm confident you'll recover just fine. You'll still need to be taken to a proper hospital but we'll have to wait for your vitals to be strong enough. For now though, you'll remain here and we'll do everything in our power to help you through this. The worst part is over – he assured her. She just stared at him – well, I must tend to other people. I'll be back with you later to check on you. Don't fight sleep, you need your rest._

 _Then he gave a serious look to the Commander, who had stayed a few steps back since giving the doctor the bottle of water, before drawing a curtain she hadn't noticed and giving them some privacy. He pulled a chair a little bit closer to the bed and sat down, running his hands up and down his face and giving a small sigh. She though he looked a little pale and tired, but didn't say anything about it. He seemed like he was struggling to find the right words to start a conversation, given the fact that he opened and closed his mouth a couple of times before finally deciding to ask._

\- _So… Annabeth right? How are you feeling?_

\- _He's not here, is he? – she asked instead of answering. She could feel her eyelids growing heavy by the second but she fought it with all the strength she had._

\- _Whoever had captured you managed to scape and… - but she interrupted him._

\- _No. Not him. My… his body. We left him, didn't we? – her voice had grown really small and he gave her a look close to pity._

\- _I'm sorry. We couldn't bring him with us – he looked towards one of the monitors when her heart rate started to go higher and higher._

\- _Y-you shouldn't – she started saying but talking was proving to be a bit difficult – you sh-should've…have left me…_

\- _Hey calm down – McGarrett said when the heart monitor started beeping a warning sound and he could see her breathing getting worked up._

\- _Why d-did you co-come for us? Who se-sent you?_

\- _The Navy assigned my team to rescue you. Listen, you should try to calm down, take deep breaths? – the guy was getting nervious, but she didn't care. Her chest was feeling tight and she was having trouble taking deep breaths so she could only manage small ones._

\- _He's dead…he's dead – she started repeating, almost to herself, while tears started to make their way down her cheeks. She was pale underneath all the bruises and the lack of air she was getting was making her feel dizzy. Not to mention the final realization that she was never going to see Alex again._

\- _Please, breathe slower. Try to calm down – she raised the arm that wasn't supported by a sling and brought it to her face to cover her eyes. She hated when people saw her crying. She was supposed to be strong enough to hide the pain, but the prospect of spending the rest of her life without him made her lose her grip on her emotions._

\- _Please, leave – she said softly._

\- _Emmm… I shouldn't leave you like this. You need to calm down or you'll hurt yourself – she tried turning away from him, but the movement hurt her ribs and her broken arm, making her whimper at the same time that she couldn't hold back anymore the strong sob that tore through her lips. McGarrett immediately got up and walked right up to the cot. He hesitated for a second but eventually put his hand on her shoulder. She tried again to turn away from him, now completely unable to hide the sadness she was feeling and the torrent of tears flowing from her closed eyes – it's okay, it's okay – he tried comforting her – I know it must hurt a lot, and you shouldn't be ashamed to let it show, but you need to remain calm. You're still hurt badly and you heard the Doc, you need your rest. So try to slow down your breathing and take bigger and deeper breaths – he had started talking, mostly to distract her from her mission of turning away from him._

 _Eventually she had managed to calm down because she had fallen asleep. At some point she had stopped trying to turn her body away and settled with just turning her head in the opposite direction. All the while, the Commander had kept his hand on her shoulder, grounding her, and even though he had stopped talking, she found what little comfort she could take in his presence._

 _By the time she woke up again, Commander McGarrett was nowhere to be seen. She was actually glad because she didn't want him to witness another episode like that again although, oddly enough, she felt a little bit more clearheaded even if the pressure in her chest still remained._

 _The weeks that followed passed almost in a blur and by the time she was strong enough to be moved to a hospital, McGarrett and his team had already left the base. He had come by to see her a few other times, and she had inwardly appreciated the effort of trying to maintain light conversations with her, but she never had been in the right mood to talk and she generally had wanted to be left alone._

 _At some point, the doctor had explained with more details the circumstances of her surgery and everything that had been done in order to save her, as well as the total extent of her injuries and the best way to help herself heal faster. Eating and sleeping were among the top of the list, even if during the first week she had been on a strict diet of fluids._

 _She had also learned that the person who had donated all the blood used to save her had been none other than the Commander himself._

 _At the end of her stay in the base, she had thought about asking someone for information on Commander McGarrett, seeing as she hadn't thanked him for what he had done for her, not just during the rescue but afterwards as well, finally deciding that it wouldn't be worth it. He had left with his team, not even bothering to come see her before that._

 _She supposed she shouldn't blame him since she hadn't exactly been too open into receiving visitors and whenever he had been around she hadn't offered her best behavior; but it just confirmed her what she had already begun to believe: nobody gave a damn for her anymore. And so she decided to forget about him and about everyone on that base._

 _The day she was transferred to a hospital in another country she decided to try and do her best to forget everyone and everything from that base. Preserving only the memory of Alex and vowing to never need the help of anyone else, ever again. Chances were, she would never cross paths with Commander McGarett again, so she had just pushed him out of her mind, concentrating on what her life would be like from that moment on._

 **H50H50H50H50H50H50H50H50H50H50**

" _Well, joke's on you_ " she thought to herself when she woke up a couple of hours later on the guest room of Steve's house.

She lay in bed, staring at the ceiling and coming to a decision by the time she had to get up. But, before she did anything, she still needed one more thing to continue with her mission: the information on the confiscated computers.

So she would work with the Five-0 task force for one more day and then she would be on her way. It was better that way.

 **And there you have it… did you like it? I felt like it would be good to give Annabeth's perspective of the time she spent recuperating in the base. I know this was a short chapter but, hopefully, it was meaningful. I felt it was important to tell the insight into her past and in what terms she and Steve separated. It would explain more both of their reactions upon meeting again in the first chapter, don't you think?**

 **Well, I won't bore you ith my thought any longer. I would looove to read a review from you guys!**

 **I don't know when I'll be able to write the next chapter…but reviews can always motivate me to do it faster! Hahahaha**

 **Until next chapter then!**


	15. Chapter 15

**First of all, I want to say I AM SO SO SO SORRY I've taken this long to post this chapter. Ive been having problemas with my muse and she hasn't wanted to just strike me with ideas! It's been frustrating really.**

 **Like with that other chapter: this hasn't been my best work but it'll have to do for now… I just didn't want to keep you waiting any longer. I hope the chapter is good enough though! That will be our decision to make after all…**

 **Again: I apologize for taking so long… I'll try to keep in the mood of writing now…**

 **Well… after that little introduction: here's the chapter and I really hope you enjoy reading another little piece of this story!**

As it turned out, things weren't going to be as easy as she'd hoped.

\- I found her! – said Kono from her position around the smart table. When everyone gathered near her, she finished typing something and then sent the image towards one of the larger screens – she was sold a few days ago to this man: Alejandro Gonzales. He's a businessman who owns quite a few textile factories around the world. He's Spanish and is suspected to run deep into the criminal world. No police department has ever been able to pin him to a crime because he surrounds himself with a pretty tight group of subordinates that apparently do everything for him. He recently purchased an old factory here on the island. He's been repairing it and making it into his new company factory. It's been functioning for at least a month.

\- They must have sold Emily to work on forced labor – said Annabeth.

\- I think we should pay this Alejandro guy a visit – commented Danny.

\- Alright. Let's go to the factory. Kono, you and Chin keep digging into the whereabouts of the other sold girls and work with Duke to coordinate rescue and the arrest of the buyers. Danny, Annabeth and I will handle Emily and Alejandro.

\- Got it! – both Chin and Kono answered.

When they got to the place, Danny was the first one to state the obvious.

\- Are you sure this thing is functioning? Looks deserted to me – they were steping out of the car and gazing towards the industrial size factory that looked, indeed, abandoned.

\- Kono said all the permits were in order and the opening date was about a month ago – they were approaching the front door by now.

\- Don't we need a warrant for this? – asked Annabeth when she saw Steve reaching to open the door. Danny laughed and told her it would be futile to expect something like that from a "Neanderthal" – Well… I'm not sure we should storm into the place before knowing how many people we would have to deal with and where the sold girls are. We can't let them get caught in any kind of cross fire – stated Annabeth.

\- And here I was thining you were as reckless as McGarrett – joked Danny – apologies for that – he only got a half glare from Steve at that comment. What Annabeth was saying was true, but they had to do something.

\- Okay. Do you have any ideas? – he asked her.

\- As a matter of fact … - she turned to Danny – do you speak spanish? – she gave him a smile that, in his world, could only mean trouble.

\- I take what I said back – he grumbled – what do you have in mind?

\- You may wanna lose the tie – Annabeth smirked and proceeded to tell them her plan.

It was actually pretty simple: find an excuse to get in without causing an open confrontation, do a recon of the place, locate hostiles and targets and then proceed to attack.

At hearing the plan, Steve couldn't help but smile. It was a combination of a perfectly practiced military operation and what he assumed were the spy tactics she must have picked up along the way. The idea was simple, tactical, quick and (hopefuly) effective.

Everyone got ready to play their part: Danny had taken off his tie and hiden his badge, Annabeth had messed up her hair and Steve had hidden behind a few bushes near the entrance.

Danny banged on the door.

No response.

Another bang.

Sounds coming from the inside.

\- Get ready – Danny warned.

The door opened.

\- What the hell took you so long? – asked Danny with a faked accent as if he was a Spanish man speaking English – you've got another girl here – the two men who had opened the door stared at Danny and Annabeth with something between confusion and annoyance. They were also sporting a gun each.

\- Who the hell are you? – asked one of them. They didn't look local but neither did they sound spanish.

\- Who am i? _Dios mio!_ – he answered waving his hands around in outrage – instead of wasting my time why don't you just take the girl so I can be done with my job!?

\- He must be one of Gonzales's inner circle – the second man told the first one in a whisper that they could all hear. The first man gave Danny a suspicious look.

\- If he was, he should know the girls are delivered through the back door. This is too public – _bingo_! Confirmation of guilt.

\- Well, I haven't been here before and by the looks of it, no one will be seeing us here any time soon. So, are you going to take the girl or not? Because I have a schedule to complete – after giving him another look and giving Annabeth a once over, the guys let them in.

They hadn't had come prepared, so they couldn't communicate with Steve through comms or any other communication device. The plan was to get Annabeth in with the other working girls and Danny was supposed to count how many people were inside; then he would go out, share the information with Steve and then go in to bust the place if the number of hostiles was good enough to handle. If not, they would have to call the cavalry. Essentially, it was Annabeth going undercover as a victim again, which Danny wasn't too happy about, but she had already proven her worth. She could do it.

They were led into a small office where Danny had to introduce himself again and explain why he hadn't known the girls were delivered through the back door. He had to use that big creative mouth of his to find his way around the guy's uncomfortable questions but, in the end, what sold the act was what always gave Annabeth easier acces to the criminal world: her age. Not a lot of people suspected a teenager could do the things she could. Being underestimated provided her with plenty of opportunity to strike and these guys never considered seeing her as anything other than a victim.

Annabeth was led out of the office while Danny was accompanied to the exit again. She assumed they were taking her to a basement since they had to walk down a long flight of stairs and, eventually, behind a big double steel door at the end of a short hallway, she was pushed inside a big room with rows and rows of different types of small machines. She could recognize sewing machines but the rest she had no idea what they were used for. There were stations where fabric of various colors was being folded neatly and ready to be brought to the market and a smaller table at the end of every row were someone was keeping an inventory of the work done that day.

What actually caught her attention though, was the people working on the machines. Women of every age were sitting or standing behind a machine or working station looking pale, dehydrated and malnourished. The younger ones managed the heavy work while the older ones were occupied with the sewing machines or the inventories.

She was made to walk toward one of the stations and an older woman was tasked with the job of teaching her what to do. She felt outraged that so many people were forced to do this kind of unpaid job and treated like animals, given what could barely be called food and made them sleep all together in a adjointing room covered with mattresses. None of them had seen the light of day since they had been taken and forced to work for this people.

The only upside she could see to their current situation was the fact that only three people were guarding them and making sure they all did what they were supposed to do. She could handle three guys that looked more bored than anything, and she and Danny had counted just four people upstairs. They could do this. Another good thing? No one had searched her and so she still had her phone with her and just waited for the perfect opportunity to send a text to Steve's phone. She had also spotted Emily among the younger group.

" _Basement: 50 vics – 3 guards. Action?_ "

Only one person caught her sending the message: the old lady who had been explaining to her how things worked down there. Annabeth just smiled at her and made a motion with her finger for the lady to keep quiet. A few seconds later, she received the answer:

" _Neutralize. Going in_ "

At receiving the green light, she took a big breath and prepared to take down the three guards in the basement.

 **There you have it. I know, I know. Not great. I apologize for that! I'll try to make next chapter more entertaining and I think you can all guess some action is coming! Time to finally rescue Emily and end the entire human slavery circle. Also, Annabeth has a decision to make: leave after this or stay with the team… I wonder what she'll choose? (note the sarcasm!)**

 **Well… i can only ask you to please review to let me know what you thought of this chapter and what you think will happen next!**

 **Until next chater!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Uff! I'm so happy that I finally got inspired enough to write this! Maybe I should have warned you sooner but this is going to be the last chapter of this story. I think I finally got to the ending I wanted and I'm satisfied with it. Remember that this story coming to and end doesn't mean the end of the major storyline… you know there's still some mysteries to be solved.**

 **Having said that, I want yo thank everyone who favorited or followed this story and I invite you to stay tuned for the next installment I will hopefully be writing soon…**

 **Well… I'll give more information at the bottom. For now, enjoy!**

Annabeth put the phone back in her pocket after reading Steve's message and glanced at the three guards. They were all near the double doors and she needed to take them down before they noticed anything happening upstairs.

The old lady was explaining what her job would consist on when she kindly told her to wait for a second because there was something she needed to do.

\- I'll be right back. Excuse me – she said.

\- Wait! Where are you going? – the lady asked worried about this new girl causing a disturbance so quickly after arriving. None of them were supposed to leave their posts unless told to.

\- It's okay – Annabet whispered – don't worry – and she smiled at her.

She then schooled her features and turned them into those of a desperate person while walking awkwardly to the doors where immediately the three men stood straighter and adopted aggressive postures although they didn't reach for their guns, which she could see placed inside the waistband of their pants; there was no reason to reach for them, she was just a girl right?

\- Go back to your table! – ordered one of them.

\- Please! I need to get out of here! This place is too crowded! There's no air! No way out! Please! – she was faking her hyperventilation while getting closer and closer to the men.

\- Nothing you can do about it so get back! – almost yelled another one. She kept going until the third man, the one who hadn't spoken yet, took a step in her direction and reached for her arm.

The moment his hand connected with her arm, she lashed out. She took his arm instead, turned around, bent over and flipped him over her making him land on his back.

Before anyone knew what was really happening, she had already let go of his arm and was sending a kick to the second guy's stomach, making him stumble a few steps backwards, creating enough room space between them to take a step of impulse before bringing her right leg up, angling her body to the side a little bit to maintain balance and strike again, this time connecting the tip of her foot with the guy's temple. He went down and stayed down.

While taking care of the first two men, the last one had time to reach for his gun but not enough to use it. She had already turned on her heels and took a hold of the man's hand holding the weapon before he could point it at her and used a move to disarm him while almost spraining his wrist. The guy yelled and let go of the gun. He immediately took a swing at her with his uninjured hand but she ducked it easily by crouching down and while the guy's arm was passing above her head, she grabbed it and twisted it behind his back, bringing the butt of her newly acquired gun into the back of his head and letting him fall unconscious to the floor after the hit.

The first man she had dropped had recovered from his fall and was standing up to go after her or, at least, raise the alarm to what was happening down there, but by the moment he was completely up, there was a kick already being delivered to his midsection and an elbow to his temple. The guy was out before knowing what really hit him in the first place.

Satisfied the men were down for the count, she turned to the startled group of women looking at her with disbelief and shock. Thankfully, they hadn't made any noise. She supposed they had figured that if someone was kicking the ass of the people holding them prisoners, then they were on their side.

\- Is everyone alright? – she asked – I'm here to help you. The police are on it's way and you'll all be taken home – she could see the excitement starting to break on the women's faces but she needed them to remain silent – Please! You need to stay calm. This isn't over yet. Go inside the room and stay there until I come get you, alright? No mater what you hear, do not leave this room!

At her last words, the excitemet on their faces started turning into fear. They could already hear something going on upstairs in the room above where shouts and the first round of gunfire was being exchanged.

She ushered them into the room covered in mattreses, thankfully with the help of the old lady who had been explaining to her the procedures of the place, and after reminding them to keep quiet and away from the steel doors, she took off in that direction to help Steve and Danny. The plan had included them calling HPD no matter how many people were inside the factory, so they shouldn't take too long to arrive, and even though Steve had been confident he and Danny could take on a maximum number of five people alone, she wanted to lend a hand and even their odds a little bit because, police training or not, four agains two was still uneven and unfair.

She reached the doors and found them locked, having to search the unconscious bodies of the three guards to find the key to unlock them. After several tries, she finally managed to open the door and, holding the gun high in front of her, she peeked into the hallway. It was clear. She made it to the stairs and started climbing up.

She was almost to the end when someone suddenly appeared at the top end of the stairs with the intent of going down to get the help of the men inside the basement and was surprised to find a gun pointed at his face.

\- Don't move! – she hissed – give me your gun – she ordered. The guy looked at her with contempt probably wondering how she had been able to get the better of the men downstairs and now disarm him. He had no other choice than to give her the weapon and follow her instrucctions.

She made him walk around her so now she was higher than him on the stairs. She told him to turn around and keep going down, finding herself at the receiving end of a murderous look before seeing the back of his head as the guy made his way down the next step. His foot hadn't even reached it when she hit him with the butt of her gun and he crumbled all the way to the floor where he stayed unmoving and completely out of their way.

When she finally reached the end of the flight of stairs, she could get a clear picture of what was happening inside the big room. Danny was cuffing one of the men, Steve was kicking a gun away from the fallen owner and a body layed unconscious, or dead, at the entrance of the office she had walked into with Danny when they had first arrived.

Doing the count in her head (three unconscious in the basement, one at the bottom of the stairs, one cuffed and two taken down up here) she made herself known and walked calmly towards Danny and Steve, knowing there was no one else in the building.

\- That was fun, wasn't it!? – she exclaimed, actually smiling at how swiftly this operation had turned out.

\- Oh yeah! I had a blast! – answered Danny making sure both Annabeth and Steve catched his sarcasm. He finished cuffing the man and stood up, wincing when he brought a hand up to a bloodstain on his upper arm. Annabeth frowned.

\- What happened to you? – she asked.

\- The usual. I got shot at while McGarrett stormed inside.

\- I told you to take cover sooner – said Steve while coming closer to them.

\- Aha… if you say so…

\- Where are the girls? Are they okay? The guards on the basement? – asked Steve.

\- All taken care off. The women are safe, just waiting to be rescued – answered Annabeth – oh! And they guy you let get away is also down there. He will probably have a concussion and a few broken bones. You're welcome by the way – she finished giving them a cheeky smile. The partners just snorted and started making their way down the stairs.

\- You're enjoying this way too much – commented Danny, wondering about Annabeth's facial expression after his comment without realizing that his words had probably meant a lifechanging decision that had already been formed in her mind.

HPD arrived eventualy and now every man on the factory had been zip tied and put together in a corner so the women could slowly make their way up and out of there.

Annabeth had put Emily aside to explain to her who she was and that her cousing had sent her looking for her and that she would be going home to her family in the next few days. Emily hugged her and thanked her, crying all the way to the police cruiser that would take the woman to the hospital to get checked out and then to the station so their families could be contacted.

After that, there wasn't much she could do, so she stayed out of the way near the Camaro watching Danny, Steve and the police officers do their job in coordinating the rescue and then taking care of the arrested man so they could be brought into custody.

She replayed in her mind the last words Danny had told her and she knew in her heart she couldn't deny it.

For the first time since Alex had died, she had actually enjoyed an undercover operation. Not the first one on the big isolated house, but here on the factory. The first time had been too intense for her considering her emotions had been all over the place, but this time, everything had gone according to plan, she had felt calm and collected and no innocent woman had been hurt. Working with Steve and Danny on this one had been easy and she really had to admit she had enjoyed it. The feeling of doing something that truly matters again: saving people.

What would her life become if she actually stayed here?

Were her assumptions right about Steve wanting her to work with them?

Would the rest of the team agree?

Could she fit in?

Maybe this was what she needed. Maybe this was what could help her… move on.

Move on…

What a complicated concept.

Did moving on meant forgetting about him? About their life together?

Did it mean replacing their dynamic with something new?

Did it mean the possibility of enjoying her work without him?

Or worse…

Did it mean being happy without him?

She had to look down after having that thought. She felt guilty because she didn't want to be sad anymore. She didn't want to keep being angry and alone but, how could she be anything else without him?

She looked up again and the answer was walking right towards her. Maybe she didn't have to be alone anymore. Maybe this people: Steve, Danny, Chin and Kono could help her overcome her dark emotions and be a happy person again.

She wasn't going to kid herself; she would need time to adjust and she wouldn't trust blindly in someone else after having met them for just a couple of days, but if she never gave herself the opportunity to heal, she would never do so. She guessed only time could tell, and she decided she wasn't going to give up on herself anymore.

. . .

When they reached the Camaro, Danny and Steve found Annabeth staring right ahead.

\- You okay? – asked Steve. Annabeth focused her gaze on him.

\- Yeah! I'm good – she turned to Danny – how's the arm?

\- Well, I'll survive. Nothing a few beers and a good slice of pizza wouldn't fix – they all smiled. Steve looked at her again.

\- So… you found Emily. Was she okay? I'm sure she'll be able to go home in the next few days.

\- She was fine. A little worse for wear but otherwise unhurt. She was happy to know she was going home and I'm sure her family will be as well – somehow she was sounding unsure of herself, and that was one tone of voice they hadn't heard from her at all yet. They started thinking she was getting homesick while talking about Emily going home, since they both came from England, but her next statement caught them off guard – I was thinking about staying here for a little while longer – Steve was specially surprised to hear it.

\- What do you mean? – he asked.

\- Well, it's not every day you get to come to paradise so… I think I should stick around to get to know it better.

\- You think this is paradise? – asked Danny, and both Steve and Annabeth looked at each other while rolling their eyes and smiling. She hadn't known him for very long but she got the feeling Danny was the kind of guy who just had a very strong opinion about pretty much everything – the heat, the water, the bugs, the language. There's nothing paradisiac about that.

\- Come on Danno! It grows on you! – teased Steve. Also relieved that he would apparently have more time to get to know his sister and find the right way to tell her the truth. After giving Danny a knowing look, he turned to her – Look, emmm… I think we all worked together pretty well on this case and… if you want… if you're going to stay for a while… well, I thought maybe… you would like… you know…

\- For Christ's sake just say it already you animal! – exclaimed Danny, receiving a glare from his partner. Steve continued with what he had been trying to say.

\- What I meant was – he started again, trying to calm his somewhat racing heart – if you want, I'm sure we could find you a position with 5-0. We could really use your help – she thought about her answer for a few seconds.

\- I appreciate the offer, and I did enjoy working with you guys, but I can't promise you I'll be satying here for too long. I'm… i'm trying… there's some stuff I still have to solve from my previous job and this is not going to be easy for me – she was speaking directly to Steve, hoping to convey more than just her words to him. He knew where she came from and he had seen her at her worst. If there was someone who could understand, it was him – I can help you out with what I can while I'm here, but I make no promises. Will that be okay with you? – she felt her heart suddenly start hammering in her chest while he thought about what she had just said.

\- I'm sure we can work something out – was his answer and a small smile helped her reassure herself that maybe this was the right decision to make.

\- Wonderful! – said Danny, who had already come to terms with Steve's idea and the prospect of getting a new member on the team – now can we please go? I'm hungry and tired. All this busting criminal organizations things is pretty exhausting, don't you think?

\- Alright – said Steve, taking the keys from Danny and getting on the diver seat of the car – what do you say we grab some beers and pizza and head over to my place. We'll call Kono and Chin to meet us there.

\- Sounds good – answered Annabeth, and then she added – as long as there's no pineapple in it…

Steve and Danny stared at her through the rearview mirror.

\- You don't like pineapple? – asked Steve sounding perplexed.

\- No, no… I like pinapple. I like fruit salads and even a _piña colada_ once in a while. But pineapple on pizza? That's just… wrong. It just doesn't taste good.

\- AHA! I TOLD YOU! I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE! – yelled Danny in triumph.

\- Unbelieveable – muttered Steve – so, what are you? A margherita pizza kind of girl?

\- More like pepperoni pizza all the way!

\- Alright… pepperoni it is – said Steve in defeat while Danny smiled smugly thinking that maybe this girl wasn't so bad after all.

So they drove away from the factory and into a new dynamic that would hopefully work for everyone. Annabeth wanted to find somewhere she could feel happy again, somewhere she fit in; Steve wanted to build a relationship with a sister he had thought would never see again while figuring out the right way to tell her; and Danny just wanted to make it through the day having already established in his mind that the new girl was every ounce as crazy as his partner was.

Yeah… things were definitely about to get interesting for the Five-0 task force. They were certainly going to get interesting for the growing Five-0 Ohana.

 **Well… I'm particulary please with this ending… I thing it has humor and depth at the same time.**

 **For those of you hoping to read the moment Steve told Annabeth the truth (Aquababy58) well, I'm afraid you'll have to wait a bit longer for that! There is a whole different fanfic I'm going to write just for that purpose! Don't hate me! This story was just about how Annabeth met the team and made her way into it!**

 **So… future stories to be looking forward:**

\- **Obviously Steve telling Annabeth the truth.**

\- **Doris coming into the picture with her THREE kids to answer to: Mary, Steve AND Annabeth.**

\- **And pretty much any kind of case or story line that comes to my mind with this characters!**

 **From what I've been able to tell, some of you really like the OC character of Annabeth and her relationship with the team and specially Steve. So you can really expect more things to come following the major storyline.**

 **I don't know when exactly I'll start posting the new story, but it really shouldn't be that far from now. I need to take advantage of the time while I'm still on vacation because I start the University in about a month and then I'll be pretty busy. Even though I will try to always find the time to write my stories.**

 **I also wanted to clear something about Annabeth's age because even I'm getting confused due to having posted the stories in no chronological order.**

 **So far we have, in the storyline's chronological order:**

 **1) What in the world? Here, Annabeth recently turned 18 and she was 15, almost 16 when she was rescued by Steve and his team from Sho Wun.**

 **2) Unexpected Events. In this story I mention things that happened on the fifth season of the show (the Marco Reyed thing with Danny in Colombia) so this story would have taken place at least 4 years after "What in the world?" meaning Annabeth would have been 22 or reaching 23.**

 **3) Complicated situations. Well… let's just pretend that hasn't happened! It is a really hard story because of the things happening to the characters. So let's just pretend that happened like in an alternative reality, shall we?**

 **I just wanted to get that cleard out so theirs is no confusion (mostly mine) about it… if I make any mistake mentioning events from the show that hasn't happened yet because of the timeline, I apologize. And not just on the stories already written but on the future ones as well.**

 **Anyway! No more babbling! I would LOVE to know what you thought of this chapter and story in general! And also what would you like to see happening to the characters on future stories! Ideas are always welcomed!**

 **Thenk you for being always so patient with me and for sticking with this crazy storyline! You rock!**

 **Until next story!**


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